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ADDRESSES^' 


PRINCE  SERGE  WOLKONSKY. 


CHICAGO: 
J.   C.   WiNSHIP  &   Co. 

1893. 


rj^  o 


VI. 


jzifLtji 


'^■p  ran 

IVERSITT 


I  —  TO  THE  AMERICAN  FLAG. 

II  —  HIGHER    EDUCATION     OF    WOMAN 

IN  RUSSIA. 

III  — GREETING. 

IV  —  THE  POET  IN  POUSHKIN'S  POETRY. 

V  —  GREETING. 

VI  —  THE  SOCIAL  OFFICE  OF  RELIGIOUS 

FEELING. 

VII  — FATHER  SMITH. 
VIII— A  REPLY. 


To  THE  American  Flag. 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  RUSSIAN  BANQUET, 
27th  may,  1893. 


uisriv. 


®50r    tt^iJr    ^ttTJ^^vJjC^n    3IFl^s> 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

We  have  heard  a  good  many  speeches,  and 
though  I  feel  very  diffident  in  the  presence  of 
the  many  distinguished  orators  I  see  among  the 
noble  guests  who  have  honored  us  with  their 
company  to-night,  I  nevertheless  venture  a  few 
words,  hoping  that  the  fact  of  another  speech 
will  be  excused  in  regard  to  the  feelings  of 
thankfulness  that  shall  dictate  it.  Thankful- 
ness, indeed,  thankfulness  to  our  hosts,  the 
Americans ;  not  merely  for  the  great  pleasure 
we  gather  from  the  hospitality  they  so  kindly 
offer  us  in  their  country  and  under  their  flag, 
but  far  more  for  the  great  lessons  that  can  be 
learned  from  this  country  and  from  this  flag. 

When  we  look  at  the  map  of  the  United 
States,  when  we  see  that  big  piece  of  continent 
between  two  oceans,  all  divided  in  so  many 

7 


different  sections,  we  think  it  shows  us  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  pictures  of  division  with  the  aim 
of  union ;  it  gives  a  marvelous  sample  of  devel- 
opment of  the  single  unity  for  the  sake  of  a 
common  and  general  whole.  Now,  if  we  reduce 
the  unity  to  its  simplest  expression,  and  if  on 
the  other  part  we  extend  the  limits  of  the  whole 
so  far  as  they  can  he  extended  on  this  earth, 
we  will  have  on  one  side  individuality,  and  on 
the  other  side  humanity.  Ladies  and  gentle- 
men, we  of  course  cannot  know  what  shall  be 
the  language  which  will  be  spoken  in  Heaven, 
but  I  know  that  on  this  Earth,  there  are  no 
grander  words  than  these  two:  Individuality 
and  Humanity.  They  are  at  the  same  time 
both  the  starting  point  and  the  final  aim  of  all 
human  activity.  In  fact,  individuals  lead 
humanity,  but  humanity  is  the  beacon  that 
shines  for  individuals ;  no  individual  can  pre- 
tend to  be  mentioned  by  posterity,  unless  he 
has  dona  something  for  at  least  a  portion  of 
humanity,  and  on  the  other  side,  no  change  or 
innovation  brought  into  the  state  of  humanity 
deserves  the  name  of  progress,  if  it  does  not 
aim  to  the  happiness  of  the  individual.     And 


these  two  words  are  constantly  present  to  our 
minds  here  in  this  country  of  America  and 
especially  at  this  Columbian  Exposition. 

We,  foreign  nations,  we  too  may  be  con- 
sidered as  individuals.  All  of  us  before  com- 
ing here  intensified  our  national  individu- 
ality as  much  as  we  could  in  order  to  be 
worthily  represented  at  the  Fair.  But  we 
would  not  have  come  here,  had  we  not 
known  that  there  is  a  higher  aim  and  a  wider 
horizon  beyond  our  private  national  interests. 
Patriotism  is  a  grand  motor  of  a  great  impul- 
sive powder,  but  it  is  only  the  soil  which  feeds 
our  single  activities.  The  universal  sun  that 
shines  above  and  gives  them  the  necessary 
strength  and  vitality,  is — Humanity. 

Christopher  Columbus  conquered  the  Isle  of 
Cuba  for  the  crown  of  Spain ;  it  is  not  to  that 
he  owes  his  glory,  but  he  discovered  America 
and  gave  it  to  the  whole  world,  and  this  is 
what  brought  him  immortality. 

Americans  have  always  followed  the  traces 
of  the  great  discoverer;  every  effort  of  their 
inventive  genius  had  a  result  that  was  a  gift 
to   the   whole   world,  every  discovery  in  the 


OF  Tl 


10 

domain  of  science  marked  as  an  era  in  the 
development  of  humanity.  Such  one,  I  mean  an 
era,  undoubtedly  shall  be  the  present  World's 
Exposition.  We  foreign  nations  are  proud 
of  the  idea  that  we  take  part  in  one  of  the 
grandest  events  of  modern  times.  We  joy- 
fully bring  our  collective  energies  as  contribu- 
tions to  your  national  enterprise  with  no  other 
pretention  of  immediate  benefit  than  the  pleas- 
ure of  congratulating  you  upon  your  success. 

Later  on  the  great  results  of  what  we  see 
now  will  gradually  come  to  light.  The  day  will 
come,  when  all  the  nations,  just  like  the  dif- 
ferent stars  of  the  different  states,  drop  their 
names  and  lose  their  color  so  as  to  form  a  con- 
stellation on  the  blue  sky  of  your  national  flag, 
so  all  the  nations  some  day  will  forget  smd/oryive 
the  differences  which  keep  them  distant  from 
one  another,  those  unworthy  differences  which 
make  of  one  human  creature  a  stranger  to 
another  human  creature.  The  day  will  come, 
when  all  nations  will  join  in  those  blue 
Heavens  where  the  words  humanity,  indulg- 
ence and  peace  make  an  eternally  resplendent 
constellation. 


11 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  cannot  resume  my 
wishes  in  a  better  and  shorter  way  than  in 
proposing  you  to  drink  to  the  prosperity  and 
glory  of  that  allegorical  sign,  "  The  American 
Flag." 


Higher  Education  of  Woman 
IN  Russia. 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  EDUCATIONAL  CONGRESS, 
23d  JULY,  1893, 

AND  AT  THE 

ASSEMBLY  HALL  OF  THE  WOMAN'S  BUILDING, 
9th  AUGUST,  1893. 


in  Mxt^^i^^ 


<*   *  *   woTnan  is  not  undeveloped  man, 
But  diverse.'" 

Tennyson. 


Mks.  President,  Mr.  President, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  kindness  of  a  few  persons  confers  on  me 
the  honor  of  entertaining  you  to-night.  An 
honor  that  cannot  be  highly  enough  appreci- 
ated, if  we  consider  that  the  Auxiliary  Con- 
gresses of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition 
are  at  this  moment  an  object  of  universal 
interest,  that  from  every  spot  of  the  earth  eyes 
are  turned  toward  this  building,  that  the  whole 
civilized  world  is  watching  the  results  of  the 
deliberations  that  take  place  under  this  roof, 
and  that  a  man  who  speaks  from  this  chair 
must  feel  as  if  he  were  speaking  to  the  whole 
world. 


16 

But  there  is  no  privilege  without  responsi- 
bility, and  the  higher  the  first  the  heavier  the 
latter.  So  in  this  case  I  am  not  unconscious 
of  the  weight  and  the  value  of  that  precious 
thing  that  for  a  few  moments  is  made  my 
property — I  mean  the  attention  of  this  impos- 
ing audience.  And  still  I  know  there  is  one 
thing  that  will  greatly  help  me  in  my  task — 
that  is,  the  real,  unsimulated  interest  I  find  in 
everybody  in  America  with  any  question  con- 
cerning my  country.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
among  all  questions  that  can  stimulate  the 
interest  of  one  nation  in  another,  the  edu- 
cational is  one  of  the  most  important  ones; 
there  is  no  doubt,  further,  that  the  energy  and 
activity  women  of  all  countries  displayed  at 
the  invitation  of  their  American  sisters  made 
female  education  the  question  of  the  day.  Thus 
the  subject  I  am  going  to  treat  happens  to  be 
popular  before  it  has  been  spoken  of.  Trust- 
ing in  that  I  will  try  to  do  my  best,  so  as  to 
present  to  you  as  complete  and  short  a  picture 
of  the  Higher  Education  of  Woman  in  Kus- 
sia,  as  possible. 

We  will  first  give  a  historical  sketch  of  the 


aNIVERS 


17 

question;  we  will  next  examine  the  different 
statutes  and  programmes  of  the  educational 
establishments,  and  we  will  conclude  with  a 
few  general  considerations. 

I. 

Educational  establishments  in  Kussia  are  not 
all  under  the  surveillance  of  the  same  ministry; 
eleven  different  departments  have  schools,  col- 
leges, seminaries,  academies,  universities  under 
their  direction.  This  of  course  can  appear  to 
many  as  an  unpractical  state  of  things, but  it  has 
many  advantages  and  first  of  all  that  of  bring- 
ing up  a  great  variety  of  types  of  educational 
establishments.  A  short  insight  into  the  differ- 
ent types  of  female  schools — at  lea^t  the  most 
important  ones  —  must  be  given  before  we 
speak  of  higher  instruction. 

Three  different  departments  contain  the 
direction  of  female  educational  establishments. 
These  are:  The  Department  of  the  Institu- 
tions of  the  Empress  Mary,  the  Ecclesiastical 
Department  and  the  Ministry  of  Public  Edu- 
cation. 


18 

I  scarcely  need  speak  of  the  first  one  here  in 
Chicago.  Anybody  can  get  the  most  complete 
idea  of  it  by  visiting  the  Department  of  Liberal 
Arts  at  the  Columbian  Exposition,  where  the 
600  educational  and  charitable  establishments 
of  the  institutions  of  the  Empress  Mary  are 
magnificently  represented  under  the  surveil- 
lance of  Madame  Semechkin.  The  most  im- 
portant educational  establishments  of  this 
department  are  the  so-called  institutes:  a 
kind  of  seminary  for  girls,  very  strictly  ruled 
boarding-schools  that  they  are  allowed  to  leave 
only  in  summer  months  if  returning  to  their 
parents.  The  education  given  is  a  very  accom- 
plished one  in  so  far  as  preparing  the  girls  for 
intellectual  family  life  as  well  as  for  the 
laborious  life  of  governess.  These  establish- 
ments are  under  a  special  patronage  of 
Her  Majesty,  the  Empress;  ladies  of  high 
rank  sometimes  are  called  to  direct  them,  and 
the  greatest  dignitaries  of  the  state  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Committee  of  Trustees  which  has 
the  chief  supervision  of  all  the  institutes  of 
the  Empire. 

The  second  type  of  establishments  belonging 


19 

to  this  department  are  the  Gymnasiums  and 
Pro- Gymnasiums,  with  an  intermediate  educa- 
tion what  we  would  call  high  school  for  girls, 
but  they  interest  us  because  to  some  of  them 
special  higher  pedagogical  classes  are  attached. 
The  course  in  these  classes  lasts  three  years, 
and  its  object  is  to  prepare  the  young  ladies  for 
the  pedagogical  career.  Here  they  become  ac- 
quainted with  different  methods  of  teaching 
and  of  transmitting  to  others  the  knowledge 
they  acquire  during  the  seven  years  of  their 
high  school  course.  The  third  year  is  entirely 
devoted  to  practicalexercises,  where  the  ladies, 
assisted  by  professors,  give  lessons  to  the  pupils 
of  the  Pro- Gymnasium  in  the  following  sub- 
jects :  Sacred  history,  Eussian  language,  arith- 
metic, geography,  French  and  German  lan- 
guages. The  courses  are  divided  in  three  dif- 
ferent groups :  The  group  of  Eussian  language 
and  literature,  the  group  of  foreign  languages 
(French  or  German  optional),  and  the  group 
of  mathematics.  Lessons  in  religion,  Eussian, 
old  Slavonic,  and  arithmetic  are  on  the  pro- 
grammes of  each  of  the  three  groups.  Ladies 
who  have  finished   these   courses    receive    a 


20 

diploma  of  graduate  teacher,  conferring  upon 
them  the  right  of  occupying  the  chairs  of  the 
above  mentioned  subjects  in  the  four  lower 
classes  and  of  foreign  languages  in  all  classes 
of  Gymnasiums  and  Pro- Gymnasiums  for 
girls. 

Among  the  establishments  of  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Department  we  must  mention  the  Dio- 
cesan Female  Schools.  These  establishments, 
the  number  of  pupils  in  which  amounted  last 
year  to  13,000,  are  assigned  to  the  daughters  of 
priests  and  clergy  and  prepare  them  for 
the  rough  career  of  teachers  in  village 
schools.  For  more  than  three  years  I  had 
the  opportunity  of  closely  observing  some 
of  these  girls  at  their  work,  and  I  must  say 
we  cannot  have  too  much  respect  and 
admiration  for  the  really  apostolic  mission 
they  fulfill.  Buried  in  some  distant  village, 
miles  away  from  railroads,  separated  from  her 
family,  such  a  young  creature  undertakes  her 
struggles  for  life,  depending  on  a  poor  and 
illiterate  community,  which  is  not  always  able  or 
willing  to  pay  her  the  ridiculous  salary  that  is 
supposed  to  recompense  her  for  her  work  and 


21 

for  her  life.  For  twelve  roubles  ($6)  a  month 
she  has  to  provide  for  herself.  A  peasant's 
hut,  where  she  finds  lodging  for  twenty  roubles 
a* year,  becomes  her  home;  the  peasant's 
family  her  only  social  resource  if  there  is  no 
priest  in  the  village  or  no  land-owner's  house 
in  the  neighborhood;  the  rare  visits  of  the  Ed- 
ucational Inspector  or  of  some  other  member 
of  the  District  School  Committee,  and  the 
annual  arrival  in  the  Spring  of  the  Examin- 
ing Commission  are  the  only  events  which 
break  the  monotony  of  her  life  in  a  **  milieu  " 
that  is  not  hers  and  where  she  has  in  her  way 
a  sort  of  rank  to  sustain.  For  she  has  not  to 
forget  that  she  is  not  a  peasant  woman ;  she 
has  to  dress  like  a  lady,  she  has  to  behave  her- 
self like  a  lady.  I  knew  one  of  them  who  in 
similar  conditions  had  an  invalid  mother  on 
her  hands  and  a  little  brother  whom  she  pre- 
pared for  college.  Numbers  of  them  are  scat- 
tered over  the  surface  of  our  vast  country; 
their  names  are  unknown ;  they  are  not  repre- 
sented at  the  Fair,  and  probably  never  will 
be;  but  in  iliis  country,  where  an  ordinary 
workman    in    some    distant    ranch    of    your 


22 

far  West  is  lodged  and  boarded  and  gets 
f  80  a  month;  in  this  country,  where  intellect- 
ual labor  is  recompensed  as  nowhere  else ;  in 
this  country  that  knows  what  "pioneering" 
means;  in  this  country,  ladies,  I  request  — 
I  claim — your  respect  and  your  love  for  these, 
your  distant  sisters,  who  have  no  other  joy  in 
life  than  to  watch  the  glimpse  of  life  they 
gradually  arouse  in  the  little  brains  they  cul- 
tivate. 

After  having  paid  our  tribute  to  these  two 
important  departments,  we  may  now  pass  to 
the  establishments  of  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Education.  We  will  not  stop  at  the  interme- 
diate education ;  we  will  merely  mention  that  ac- 
cording to  the  Eeport  for  1891^  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Education  had  under  its  direction  342 
establishments  (Gymnasiums  and  Pro- Gym- 
nasiums) with  62,529  pupils  in  attendance, 
and  we  pass  over  to  our  subject. 

The  history  of  the  higher  educational  courses 
for  ladies  is  rather  eventful  and  has  passed 
through  various  phases.  The  question  first 
arose  in  1869,  when  permission  was  given  from 
the   Ministry  of  Public  Education  to  organ- 


23 

ize  a  series  of  public  lectures  on  history,  phi- 
lology and  science  at  St.  Petersburg  and  Mos- 
cow. The  course  had  no  settled  plan  nor 
were  any  preliminary  studies  required  from 
the  pupils.  In  the  year  1872,  Mr.  Guerrier, 
professor  of  the  Moscow  University,  opened 
his  College  of  Higher  Courses  for  Girls,  where 
special  attention  was  drawn  to  the  study  of 
universal  literature  and  Eussian  history.  At 
this  epoch  the  necessity  of  a  regular  university 
education  for  woman  made  itself  felt  by  the 
great  number  of  girls  who  went  abroad  in 
search  of  scientific  knowledge. 

An  Imperial  Ukase  of  the  year  1876  author- 
ized the  foundation  of  high  courses  for  ladies 
on  various  subjects  at  different  universities  of 
Eussia,  and  during  this  and  the  following 
year  such  colleges  were  established  at  Kazan, 
St.  Petersburg  and  Kiev.  They  were  divided 
into  two  faculties:  The  hist orico -philological 
and  the  physico-mathematical.  The  colleges 
at  St.  Petersburg  and  Kiev  and  those  of  Pro- 
fessor Guerrier  in  Moscow  each  have  a  four 
years'  course,  that  of  Kazan,  one  of  two  years. 
Besides  this,  special  classes  of  instruction  for 


24 

girls  have  been  attached  to  the  Third  Moscow 
Gymnasium  with  a  four  years'  course  of 
natural  science  and  three  years  in  mathe- 
matics. All  these  establishments  were 
regarded  as  private  institutions  with  the  obli- 
gation to  be  controlled  every  academical  year 
by  the  Board  of  Education ;  they  had  no  general 
regulations,  and  the  whole  organization  has  for 
a  long  time  been  regarded  as  a  temporary  one. 
Only  in  1879,  preliminary  work  in  preparing 
General  Eegulations  for  the  girls'  higher  colleges 
was  begun,  but  it  was  interrupted  by  the  resig- 
nation of  Count  Tolstoi  from  his  post  of 
Minister  of  Public  Education  in  the  year  1880. 

In  the  year  1884,  by  order  of  his  Imperial 
Majesty  a  Commission  was  established,  presided 
over  by  the  Under-Secretary  of  State,  Prince 
Wolkonsky,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
best  means  for  the  organization  of  superior 
education  for  girls  in  the  Empire.  But  in  the 
meantime  the  admission  of  new  students  to 
the  courses  was  stopped  and  remained  so  for  a 
little  over  two  years. 

In  June,  1889,  the  results  elaborated  by  the 
above   mentioned   Commission   were    put   in 


25 

action  and  in  September  of  the  same  year  the 
admission  was  renewed. 

After  this  historical  sketch  let  us  now  con- 
sider the  scientific  side  of  the  institution. 

The  course  lasts  four  years  and  is  divided 
into  two  sections,  the  historico -philological 
and  the  mathematical.  The  following  are  the 
lists  of  the  subjects  on  which  lectures  are  held: 

1.  In  the  historico-philological  section:  Ee- 
ligion^  psychology^  logic,  history  of  philosophy, 
Kussian  language,  old  Slavonic,  history  of 
Eussian  ancient  and  modern  literature,  theory 
of  literary  forms,  Slavonic  idioms  and  liter- 
ature, universal  literature,  (this  includes 
Italian,  French,  German  and  English  liter- 
ature and  their  connection  with  the  develop- 
ment of  Eussian  literature),  Eussian  history, 
history  of  the  peoples  of  Slavonic  race,  ancient 
history,  history  of  middle  ages,  history  of 
modern  times,  history  of  arts,  Latin  language 
and  literature. 

2.  In  the  mathematical  section:  Eeligion, 
general  course  of  mathematics,  analytical 
geometry,  algebraical  analysis,  differential  and 
integral  calculus,  astronomy,  physics,  organic 


26 

and  in -organic  chemistry,  physical  geography, 
analytic  mechanics. 

The  extensiveness  of  these  programmes  does 
not  prevent,  as  it  might  be  apprehended,  the 
seriousness  nor  the  conscientiousness  of  the 
studies.  As  you  see,  the  pupils  can  acquire  a 
very  complete  knowledge  in  all  branches  of  the 
section  they  select,  and  at  the  same  time  they 
have  the  opportunity  of  going  in  for  any  spe- 
cial question  in  its  least  details.  In  this  sense 
the  Higher  Courses  resume  in  the  limits  of 
their  programmes  that  principle  which  you 
formulate  so  cleverly  and  so  shortly  when  you 
say  that  "  a  man  should  know  everything  of 
something  and  something  of  everything." 

We  have  at  hand  the  Annual  Eeports  of 
the  Director  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Higher 
Courses  for  the  last  three  years,  and  I  will  take 
the  liberty  of  communicating  to  you  some 
details  illustrating  the  scientific  level  of  the 
young  ladies'  works.  In  the  year  1891  there 
were  385  pupils  in  the  four  courses,  of  which 
298  were  in  the  historico-philological  section 
and  87  in  the  mathematical.  This  preference  for 
history  and  literature  has  always  characterized 


27 

our  female  students,  though  we  have  in  mathe- 
matics quite  interesting  works  on  most  abstract 
subjects.  Director  Koolin  quotes  in  his  reports 
such  themes  as  *  *  On  approximate  calculus  of 
definite  integrals,"  or  "  Euler's  formulae  of 
quadrations,"  and  others.  In  1890  our  cele- 
brated compatriot,  Madame  Kovalevsky,  who 
was  professor  of  astronomy  at  the  University 
of  Stockholm,  honored  with  her  presence  the 
examinations  of  the  physico  -  mathematical 
section,  and  Director  Koolin  mentions  with 
satisfaction  the  good  impressions  she  gathered 
during  her  visit.  We  must  note  here  that  the 
only  three  ladies  who  lecture  in  this  establish- 
ment are  mathematicians ;  these  are :  Madame 
Schiff,  who  directs  the  practical  exercises  in 
mathematics^  Madame  Serdobinsky, in  physics, 
and  Madame  Bogdanovsky,  graduate  doctor  of 
the  Geneva  University,  in  chemistry. 

In  the  historico-philological  section  philo- 
sophical questions  seem  to  have  mostly  inter- 
ested the  young  ladies.  Professor  Vedensky 
speaks  in  best  terms  of  such  works  as:  ''On 
some  internal  sensations  according  to  Beaunis," 
*'  On  the   constitution  of  our   self-conscious- 


28 

ness ''  according  to  Taine  and  Strahoff,  ''On 
the  principles  of  knowledge  in  John  Stuart 
Mill's  Logic,"  "  On  the  atomic  theory  of  matter 
according  to  Professor  Strahoff's  The  Universe 
as  a  Whole,"  *^  On  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
according  to  Plato,"  and  many  others. 

National  history  has  been  much  studied  and 
very  minute  investigations  have  been  made 
by  the  ladies  on  some  original  texts  of  ancient 
Slavonic  chronicles.  Such  works  as  "  The  Fall 
of  Novgorod  in  Olden  Kussian  Chronicles  " 
and  *'  The  Conquest  of  Kazan  in  1552  as  it 
appears  from  annals  and  traditions,"  are  con- 
sidered by  Professor  Platonoff  as  essays  of  quite 
individual  and  independent  value. 

Some  ladies  are  very  well  acquainted  with 
different  Slavonic  idioms  and  gave  valuable 
translations  of  Servian  and  Bulgarian  popular 
songs  into  Eussian. 

I  had  not  the  intention  of  fatiguing  you 
with  practical  details  on  the  pecuniary  means 
of  the  establishment,  but  I  cannot  forego  the 
question,  as  I  think  it  is  of  significant  import- 
ance in  showing  how  much  public  opinion  is 
favorably  disposed  toward  higher  female  edu- 


29 

cation.  The  St.  Petersburg  Higher  Courses  are 
pecuniarily  supported  by  the  Government  and 
by  the  Municipality.  This  sum  amounts  to 
six  thousand  roubles  a  year,  while  the  whole 
maintenance  of  the  establishment  according  to 
the  Director's  Report  costs  ten  times  as  much. 
Where  do  these  means  come  from?  Except 
the  sums  formed  by  the  pupil's  payments,  all 
the  rest  are  private  voluntary  donations.  We 
hardly  can  give  an  idea  of  their  extent  and 
variety,  not  only  in  great  sums  of  money  (such 
as  given  by  Mesdames  Sibiriacoff,  Shaniavsky, 
Vargounin  and  others),  but  in  active  help  of  all 
kinds.  Beginning  with  the  architect  who 
erected  the  building  and  refused  all  recom- 
pense; during  the  two  transitory  years,  when 
admission  to  the  courses  was  refused,  most  of 
the  professors  lectured  gratis ;  the  two  doctors 
attached  to  the  establishment,  one  of  whom  is 
a  lady,  never  would  accept  anything  for  their 
daily  attendance;  professors,  writers,  scien- 
tific societies  contribute  to  the  enlargement 
of  the  library,  and  the  papers  have  always  pub- 
lished gratis  all  announcements  concerning  the 
courses. 


30 

Another  thing  that  characterizes  the  popu- 
larity of  the  courses  is  the  fact  of  students 
coming  from  such  distant  places  as  Tiflis, 
Bakou,  in  the  Caucasus,  or  Tomsk,  Yenisseisk, 
Irkoutsk,  in  Siberia.  It  is  to  be  noted,  too,  that 
the  most  generous  donators  that  contribute  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  establishment  are  two 
Siberian  ladies. 

We  must  now  say  a  few  words  on  the 
Higher  Medical  Courses  which  were  founded 
in  St.  Petersburg  in  the  year  1872.  Though 
strange  it  may  appear  here  in  America, 
these  courses  for  ladies  were  under  the 
direction  of  the  Ministry  of  War  and  attached 
to  military  hospitals.  Their  students  were 
of  great  help  during  the  last  Turkish  war, 
in  1877,  where  they  showed  courage  and 
utter  abnegation.  In  time  of  peace  female 
doctors  chiefly  practice  in  villages,  where  the 
provincial  self-governmental  hospitals  are  often 
under  their  direction.  In  our  south-eastern 
provinces  their  help  is  priceless  among  the  Ma- 
hometans because  of  the  strict  religious  laws 
that  would  forbid  to  women  any  masculine  med- 
ical attendance.     Unfortunately  these  Courses 


31 

were  closed  in  1888  for  chiefly  pecuniary  rea- 
sons, but  at  the  same  time  other  Medical 
Courses  attached  to  the  Nativity  Hospital  of  St. 
Petersburg  were  reinforced  in  order  to  supply 
this  lapse.  During  the  sixteen  years  of  their 
existence  the  Higher  Medical  Courses  let  out 
about  a  thousand  graduates.  The  first  Kussian 
female  doctors  were  Mesdames  Sousloff  and 
Koshevaroff. 

II. 

This  is  a  brief  exposition  of  the  present  state 
of  woman's  higher  education  in  Eussia.  I 
shall  consider  my  task  fulfilled,  if,  noth with- 
standing this  briefness,  I  have  succeeded  in 
giving  you  a  clear  picture  of  it  and  in  demon- 
strating that  the  question  has  always  been 
considered  of  great  importance  by  our  govern- 
ment, and  has  in  consequence,  ever  since 
its  first  appearance,  been  an  object  of  careful 
study.  A  certain  hesitation  in  the  execution 
must  appear  from  the  short  historical  sketch 
we  started  with,  but  the  reasons  for  this  are  in 
connection  with  many  events  of  our  social  life, 
and  not  so  much  with  special  events  as  with  a 


32 

general  state  of  mind  that  prevailed  at  a  cer- 
tain epoch  of  our  history.  We  cannot  pretend 
to  explain  here  things  that  expect  the  pene- 
trating judgment  of  some  clever  historical 
writer,  but  we  feel  authorized  to  state  that  the 
period  from  the  years  1860  until  1880  in  Eussia 
will  remain  forever  as  one  of  the  most  com- 
plicated pages  of  modern  social  history. 

I  wish  I  could  in  a  few  words  characterize 
for  you  that,  in  many  ways,  remarkable  time,  a 
time  of  an  incredible  literary  movement,  of  an 
intense  intellectual  labor,  of  important  political 
reforms,  of  violent  revolutionary  fermentation, 
a  time  when  all  the  resources  of  the  country — 
alas,  the  bad  ones  as  well  as  the  good  ones — 
suddenly  broke  out  into  such  activity,  that  in 
the  stormy  rush  and  inter-crossing  of  contra- 
dictory streams  the  brain  of  the  younger  gen- 
eration lost  its  balance . 

After  the  wonderful  literary  period  of  1830 
when  Poushkin,  Lermontoff,  Gogol  and 
Jukofsky  went  ahead  of  a  series  of  minor 
poets,  there  comes  thirty  years  later  that  other 
pleiad  of  glorious  prose  writers  like  Count 
Leo   Tolstoi,  Dostoievsky,    Tourgeneff,   Gon- 


^  OF  THS 

f  CTNIVERi 

33 

charoff ,  and  of  brilliant  poets  like  Count  Alexis 
Tolstoi,  Maikoff,  Polonsky  and  Fefc.  A  roar  of 
enthusiasm  greets  this  second  sunrise  of  na- 
tional literature,  but  amidst  these  cheers  of  joy 
sarcastic  laughter  suddenly  breaks  out.  It 
makes  itself  louder  and  louder,  it  calls  the 
attention  of  a  rapidly  increasing  audience, 
pamphlets  begm  to  circulate,  and  finally  a 
regular  literature  of  destruction  is  inaugurated. 
While  L.  Tolstoi  in  "War  and  Peace"  extols 
family  life  and  motherhood,  Chernishevsky  in 
his  romance  of  such  an  equivocal  fame,  entitled 
"What  is  to  be  done?"*  shakes  the  basis  of 
the  family  in  proclaiming  the  uselessness  of 
marriage;  an  essay  of  the  same  '*0n  the 
iEsthetical  Kelations  of  Art  to  Keality,"  tend- 
ing to  prove  that  art  has  no  other  meaning  but 
being  a  poor  and  imperfect  reproduction  of  life, 
destroys  its  fundamental  principle  in  subserv- 
ing the  ideal  to  the  real.  Dobroluboff  and 
Pissareff  give  the  tone  to  a  school  of  critics 
who  begin  with  declaring  that  Poushkin  is 
worth  nothing   and   who   go  on  with  endless 

^Translated  into  English  by  Benj.  Tucker,  leader 
of  the  American  "anarchist-individualists"  and  direc- 
tor for  many  years  of  '*  Liberty." 


34 

variations  on  this  sentence,  become  as  popular 
as  a  proverb,  that  "  a  pair  of  boots  is  greater 
than  Shakespeare."  Nekrassoff,  a  poet  of 
irresistible  charm^  when  writing  real  poetry, 
devotes  his  pen  to  versificated  pamphlets  on 
political  subjects  intended  to  inspire  sympathy 
for  lower  people,  but,  alas,  dictated  much  more 
by  hate  against  those  who  are  above,  A  perfect 
contrast  with  his  precursor,  Koltsoff— loving 
brother  of  the  peasant,  who  lives  and  speaks 
and  weeps  with  him. 

In  politics  we  see  the  same.  At  that  period 
which  follows  such  acts  as  the  emancipation  of 
the  serfs,  the  reform  of  judicial  procedure,  the 
institution  of  provincial  self-government  with 
elective  system,  at  that  period  the  revolu- 
tionary movement  of  secret  societies  was  as 
active  as  ever;  the  atrocities  of  1881  were 
gradually  prepared,  and  for  their  accomplish- 
ment innocent  and  inexperienced  boys  and 
girls  were  recruited  among  scholars,  were 
withdrawn  from  their  families,  demoralized 
and  enrolled  in  the  ranks  of  an  army  that 
under  the  banner  of  "Progress"  brandished  the 
sword  of  *' Destruction." 


35 

At  these  complicated  times  we  did  not  know 
whom  to  accuse.  Minds  were  floating,  opin- 
ions were  uncertain.  We  could  assist  at 
that  singular  fact  of  newly  arising  doctrines 
that  bore  at  the  same  time  fresh  blossoms  of 
hopeful  faith  and  poisonous  fruit  of  violence. 
We  saw  generations  that  were  overgrown 
before  they  began  to  grow;  we  suffered  from 
the  defects  before  we  had  enjoyed  the  benefits; 
in  many  things — pardon  me  the  rather  too 
audacious  paradox — in  many  things  degenera- 
tion anticipated  birth.  The  sacred  word  of 
"  emancipation  "  had  scarcely  been  pronounced 
when  it  was  blown  up  to  its  most  monstrous 
exaggeration:  traditions,  family,  religion  were 
proclaimed  synonymous  with  superstition, 
and  higher  education,  universities  with  all  the 
attractions  of  great- center  cities,  were  pointed 
out  to  the  younger  generation  as  gates,  through 
which  they  could  escape  from  the  tyranny  of 
those  superstitions.  These  were  trying  days 
for  all  who  had  children.  I  do  not  know 
whether  this  epoch  has  been  seriously  studied 
and  represented  without  prejudice,  in  foreign 
literature;  Tourgeneff's  famous  novel, "Fathers 


36 

and  Sons,"  has  been  translated,  and  though  it 
represents  but  the  very  beginning  of  this 
movement,  it  shows  enough  to  give  us  an  idea 
of  what  the  conflict  must  have  become  later; 
but  it  hardly  can  be  understood,  and  therefore 
enjoyed,  if  notice  is  not  taken  of  those  con- 
ditions I  had  the  honor  to  explain. 

Now-a-days  it's  all  over.  With  a  remarka- 
ble wisdom,  soft  energy,  slowness,  and  care- 
fulness, the  Ministry  of  Public  Education  ac- 
complished in  a  few  years  a  total  change  in  the 
whole  body  of  the  rising  generation  and  ob- 
tained a  complete  recovery  of  its  ideas  and  , 
tendencies.  We  have  good  reasons  to  think 
that  the  hesitations  that  have  been  pointed  out 
a  while  ago  will  not  last  any  longer,  and  indeed, 
they  should  not.  The  evils  of  some  years  ago 
were  but  a  very  transitory  state  of  things  —  a 
sudden  explosion,  a  violent  paroxysm  in  a 
young  and  turbulent  blood  —  but  it  is  not  a 
chronic  illness,  and  a  relapse  of  it  is  hardly  to 
be  apprehended. 

An  exaggerated  misunderstanding  of  the 
word  "  emancipation "  is  not  in  the  nature  of 
Kussian  woman.   We  can  observe  that  in  cases 


37 

of  greatest  scientific  or  artistic  cleverness, 
women  have  never  forgotten  their  family  duties, 
nor  had  instruction  withdrawn  them  from  the 
influence  of  their  homes.  In  an  article  entitled 
"  Woman  Throughout  Eussian  History,"  com- 
posed by  my  compatriot.  Princess  Shahovskoy, 
for  the  fine  volume  Mrs.  Elliot  devotes  to  the 
description  of  the  Woman's  Building,  you  will 
find  a  good  number  of  names  of  women  who 
distinguished  themselves  in  different  branches 
of  science,  art  and  literature;  but  a  character- 
istic fact  to  be  noted  is  that  nearly  all  of  them 
received  the  impulse  to  their  studies  from  the 
traditions  of  their  families,  and  many  of  those 
who  were  married  did  marry,  so  to  say,  in  their 
specialties ;  so  that  science  and  art  became  not 
only  an  adornment,  but  the  very  basis  of  mat- 
rimonial life. 

I  will  not  fatigue  you  with  a  nomenclature 
that  would  turn  too  long,  but  I  can  certify  to 
you  that  we  never  shall  forget  that  we  are  a 
single  nation  composed  of  two  different  sexes, 
and  that  there  is  no  danger  of  our  ever  adopt- 
ing those  theories  that  prevail  in  so7?ie  countries, 
where  the  tendencies  seem  to  be  to  separate 


38 

the  two  sexes  into  two  different  nations.  No, 
hand  in  hand  will  Kussian  woman  and  Eussian 
man  pursue  their  common  way  toward  the  ful- 
fillment of  their  human  mission — not  facing 
each  other  in  provoking  attitudes,  so  as  to  hin- 
der their  free  and  natural  march  with  childish 
matches  or  ridiculous  pretensions  of  superi- 
ority— remembering  that  a  humanity  of  women 
is  as  impossible  and  as  inconceivable  as  a  hu- 
manity of  men. 

There  is  one  thing  that  sounds  so  very 
strange  to  our  ears.  That  is  when  we  hear 
women  say  that  they  work,  learn,  study  because 
they  know  that  they  can  do  things  as  well  as 
men.  As  well  as  men!  Why  this  ^*  as  well  "? 
Why  should  woman  voluntarily  put  a  limit  to 
her  perfection  and  narrow  her  ambition  at  the 
point  of  resemblance  with  man?  To  do  things 
simply  well,  is  that  not  a  sufficiently  honorable 
ambition?  Does  it  not  open  a  wider  field  to 
their  versatilities  and  does  it  not  show  in  the 
distance  of  a  constant  improvement  the  possi- 
bility^ of  doing  things  even  better,  not  only  as 
well  as  men?  A  great  mistake,  in  our  opinion, 
is  committed  by  those  who  think  that  woman's 


39 

power  consists  in  her  similitude  and  not  in  her 
dissimilitude  with  men.  How  many  have  been 
induced  in  error  by  these  theories,  and  have 
put  all  their  ambition  in  obtaining  a  resem- 
blance that  nature  has  refused  them.  Well, 
but  in  losing  the  natural  charms  of  her  sex, 
woman  does  not  become  a  man.  What  is  she, 
then  ?  Among  human  creatures  we  do  not 
know  a  third  variety  of  beings. 

I  hope  ladies  will  excuse  the  perhaps  too 
decided  terms  in  which  I  express  my  opinions, 
but  I  do  not  think  I  hurt  the  feelings  of  any- 
body here — here  where  the  lady  who  is  at  the 
head  of  the  Woman's  Exhibit,  notwithstanding 
the  great  energy  and  what  we  commonly  call 
"  a  quite  masculine  spirit  of  business"  she 
showed  in  all  her  activity — is  nevertheless  one 
of  the  most  feminine  figures  that  ever  directed 
a  great  enterprise. 

Human  progress  is  a  co-operative  one,  and 
the  part  assigned  to  woman  in"  that  co-opera- 
tion is  too  great  a  one,  indeed,  to  be  abdicated. 
The  greatest  of  her  privileges,  the  one  she 
should  care  the  most  for,  the  one  that  stays 
above  all  what  man  can  afford, — is  motherhood. 


40 

We  do  not  mean  the  merely  physiological 
motherhood,  but  motherhood  when  intended 
and  practiced  with  full  conscience  of  the  sacred- 
ness  and  majesty  of  its  moral  meaning;  then 
it  becomes  the  greatest  among  all  the  means 
of  improvement  that  humanity  possesses.  As 
the  basis  of  family,  motherhood  is  the  corner- 
stone of  human  fraternity  and  hence  the 
natural,  the  most  indisputable  denial  of  those 
differences  that  divide  humanity  and  without 
an  oblivion  of  which  the  fulfillment  of  civiliza- 
tion is  not  possible  on  earth.  Motherhood  is 
the  only  palpable  contact  we  have  with  future 
ages  and  a  constant  and  unfailing  guarantee  of 
our  participation  with  them. 

In  his  so  much  applauded  opening  address 
to  the  Auxiliary  Congresses  President  Bon- 
ney  expresses  the  wish  that  the  time  should 
come  when  **ages,  races,  nations,  communi- 
ties, religions  and  institutions"  should  no 
longer  stand  *'in  position  of  practical  hostility 
toward  each  other,  aiming  to  be  always  pre- 
pared for  strife,  even  in  the  midst  of  an  appar- 
ently enduring  peace."  Who  as  much  as 
woman  can  contribute  to  the   realization   of 


'       41 

that  ideal?  What  are  the  struggles  and  fight- 
ings of  man  against  the  powers  of  nature  com- 
pared to  the  process  of  human  fraternization 
woman  accomplishes  by  w^ay  of  obeying  to  that 
same  nature  ?  Can  we  dream  of  a  more  desira- 
ble future  than  to  see  all  prejudices  of  race, 
all  national  hostilities,  all  political  mistrusts, 
religious  intolerances,  sectarian  misunder- 
standings,— bow  their  heads,  fall  down  and 
lie  in  the  dust  like  things  of  naught  before  the 
sovereign  royalty  of  motherhood  and  under 
the  universal  equality  of  family?  Nay,  ladies, 
these  are  not  things  to  be  abdicated ;  the  recom- 
pense is  too  great  a  one  to  be  refused.  To  be 
graduate  professor,  to  be  member  correspond- 
ent of  an  academy,  to  be  doctor,  writer,  law- 
yer,— all  these  are  great  satisfactions,  but  is 
there  anything  on  earth  that  can  be  compared 
to  the  peacefulness  and  oblivion  of  sorrows 
that  overwhelm  us  at  the  sight  of  two  smiling 
eyes  of  a  child?  And  this  belongs  to  woman: 
the  purest  jewel  that  nature  has  produced  is 
hers.  No,  ladies,  this  is  not  a  thing  to  be 
abdicated.  And  we,  gentlemen,  let  us  ask  the 
ladies  not  to  underrate  that  treasure  that  is 


OF  TH 


42 

childhood ;  let  us  ask  our  mothers  to  preserve 
us  our  children's  eyes  as  long  as  possible. 
Yes,  gentlemen,  though  strange,  though  un- 
advanced  in  our  days  of  rushing  life  this  wish 
may  appear,  I  repeat :  let  us  ask  our  mothers 
to  preserve  us  our  children's  eyes  as  long  as 
possible  and  not  to  commit  a  suicide  of  human- 
ity in  letting  go  out  those  lights  that  once 
extinguished  can  never  be  lighted  again. 

And  after  having  done  so,  gentlemen,  let  us 
get  accustomed  to  the  idea  that  the  best  part 
in  the  accomplishment  of  our  civilizing  mis- 
sion belongs  to  women;  but  although  in  this 
sense  the  future  shall  be  their  work  more  than 
ours,  let  us  not  become  jealous  of  them,  for  as 
the  poet  says : 

"The  woman's  cause  is  man's;  they  rise  or  sink 
Together.'' 


Greeting. 


TO  THE  INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL 

CONGRESS. 

25th  JULY,  1893. 


Mr.  President, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Two  days  ago  I  had  the  honor  of  being  asked 
to  welcome  the  present  Congress.  I  have  not 
had  the  time  for  preparing  anything  substan- 
tial, that  should,  in  some  way,  justify  your 
kind  applauses.  This  is  why  I  hope  you  will 
excuse  me  if  I  say  but  a  very  few  words. 

At  the  occasion  of  this  solemn  session,  I 
wish  to  greet  and  to  congratulate  the  Inter- 
national Educational  Congress;  but  I  will 
address  my  congratulations  to  an  apparently 
unimportant  thing.  I  will  not  congratulate  it 
upon  the  fact  that  it  has  the  honor  of  being 
presided  over  by  a  man  of  such  merits  as  Dr. 
Harris;  I  will  not  congratulate  it  upon  the 
brilliant  names  which  constitute  the  long  list  of 
its  members ;  nor  upon  the  extensiveness  of  its 
programmes  or  the  variety  of  its  subjects.  I 
wish  to  congratulate  it  simply  upon  its  name : 
**  International  Educational." 

45 


46 

May  these  two  words  be  written  in  letters  of 
fire  on  the  dark  sky  of  this  summer  night,  so 
as  to  shine  for  every  one  who  will  attend  the 
sessions  of  this  Congress ! 

Then  he  who  will  treat  an  '*  educational  " 
question  will  remember  that,  even  in  the  case 
when  it  is  arisen  from  purely  national  consid- 
erations, it  must  have  in  its  results  a  value 
from  the  '*  international "  point  of  view;  for 
education,  if  not  aiming  to  inspire  humanita- 
rian feelings  of  international  brotherhood,  is 
but  a  dead  letter.  And  he  who  will  preach 
theories  of  **  international "  equality  of  men 
will  remember  that  this  equality  should  be  ob- 
tained by  way  of  "education;"  that  is,  by  way 
of  growing,  of  building  up,  by  way  of  noble  em- 
ulation in  improving,  in  learning,  in  accepting 
and  assimilating  things  which  others  have  dis- 
covered; in  one  word,  international  equality 
should  be  obtained  by  way  of  acquiring,  and 
not  by  way  of  restricting;  for  tendencies  of 
equality,  if  not  inspired  by  motives  of  educa- 
tion, must  bring  humanity  back  to  the  animal 
equality  of  the  beast. 

And  so  may  the  union  of  these  two  words 


47 

"international"  and  "educational"  be  blessed; 
may  it  resound  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  will  be 
present  here ;  may  it  inspire  the  words  and  acts 
of  the  Congress  with  great  ideas  of  universal 
impartiality ;  may  it  loudly  proclaim  that  every 
one  of  us  helongs,  fir  sty  to  humanity,  and  second- 
ly ^  to  one  or  another  nation ;  may  it  teach  that 
there  is  more  honor  for  any  one  of  us  in  being 
a  man  than  in  being  an  American,  or  a  Eus- 
sian,  or  a  German,  or  an  Italian,  or  a  Greek, 
or  a  Japanese,  or  whatever  else  he  may  be. 

Now,  if  we  ask  ourselves  what  is  the  surest 
way  of  obtaining  universal  impartiality,  we  will 
answer  that  it  consists  in  observing  this  rule : 
that  a  smaller  thing  should  not  hide  a  greater 
one ;  that  a  partial  question  should  not  obstruct 
the  view  of  its  whole.  In  the  physical  world, 
the  perception  of  dimensions  is  relative:  a 
house  when  we  stand  near  it  appears  greater 
than  the  mountain  in  the  distance;  a  small 
button,  if  held  close  to  our  eye,  may  obstruct 
the  view  of  the  sunshine,  and  hide  the  whole 
universe ;  but  in  the  moral  and  intellectual  do- 
main, we  must  not  allow  the  same  phenomena. 
We  must  not  allow  that  discussions  between 


48 

Methodism  and  Presbyterianism  should  ob- 
struct Christianity;  we  should  not  suffer  that 
the  interests  of  a  community  or  of  a  town 
should  grow  bigger  than  the  interests  of  a 
state ;  we  must  not  permit  that  rivalry  between 
one  nation  and  another  should  make  us  forget 
humanity. 

These  are  the  wishes  I  make  in  congratulat- 
ing the  Congress  upon  the  opening  of  its  ses- 
sions, and  these  are  the  reasons  why  I  repeat 
once  more :  May  the  union  of  these  two  words 
be  blessed  —  "  International, ' '  "  Educational. ' ' 


The  Poet  in  Poushkins 
Poetry. 


COMPOSED  FOR  THE  CELEBRATION  OF  POETS'  DAY 

AT  THE  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION, 

27th  august,  1893. 

DELIVERED  AT  THE  ASSEMBLY  HALL  OF 

THE  WOMAN'S  BUILDING, 

7th  SEPTEMBER,  1893. 


The  Poets'  Day.  How  shall  we  commemo- 
rate it?  Shall  we  represent  the  different  poets 
of  different  countries  separately,  or  shall  we 
celebrate  all  poets  of  all  countries? 

This  is  the  question  that  presented  itself  to 
my  mind  when  I  was  asked  to  take  part  in  the 
ceremonies  of  the  present  festivity.  And  I 
thought  both  aims  so  tempting  that  I  wanted 
to  answer  to  both,  and  I  resolved  to  find  a  way 
of  re-uniting  the  two  subjects  in  one  single 
speech.  My  national  literature  gave  me  the 
best  opportunity  of  doing  so, 

I  have  the  fortune  to  belong  to  a  nation  the 
first  poet  of  which  is  at  the  same  time  the 
greatest  proclaimer  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
poet's  mission  that  ever  existed.  Never  in  the 
whole  universal  literature  has  a  poet  extolled 
poetical  gifts  in  grander  terms  than  he  did; 
never  has  a  poet  represented  in  more  splendid 


52 

lines  the  aim  and  the  beauty  of  a  poet's  mis- 
sion; never  did  a  man  use  so  much  of  his 
talent  to  build  up  a  pedestal  for  the  poetical 
portion  of  himself.  This  is  the  reason  why  I 
resolved  to  speak  of  Poushkin  to-day,  for  I 
think  that  by  the  simple  fact  of  relating  to  you 
what  our  poet  thought  of  poets,  I  will  pay  the 
greatest  tribute  that  can  be  paid  to  all  poets  of 
other  countries. 

Three  principal  points  characterize  the  per- 
sonality of  a  poet  as  it  appears  from  Poushkin' s 
poetry:  a  desperate  moral  solitude  amidst  the 
crowd  of  common  mortals ;  a  supreme  indiffer- 
ence which  grows  sometimes  to  terms  of  supreme 
contempt  as  to  the  judgment  of  that  same 
crowd;  and  a  profound  conviction,  a  religious 
faith  in  the  sacredness  —  I  should  say,  in  the 
divine  character — of  his  poetical  mission,  that 
is  to  work  to  the  improvement  and  salvation 
of  that  same  crowd  of  common  mortals  among 
whom  he  feels  so  desperately  lonely,  and  the 
appreciations  of  which  he  so  much  despises. 
By  a  gradual  selection  of  quotations  I  will  lead 
you,  if  you  allow,  to  the  two  poems  of  Poushkin 
in  which  these  three  points  are  put  in  evidence 


53 

with  a  highest  degree  of  lyrical  emphasis,  and 
with  such  effects  of  sonority  as  the  Enssian 
language  seldom  has  attained,  excepting,  per- 
haps, the  semi-Byronic,  semi- oriental  poem  of 
Lermontoff,  "  The  Demon,"  which  offers  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  examples  of  the  degree 
of  melodiousness  human  language  can  reach 
on  the  shores  of  those  indefinite  regions  where 
words  expire  and  music  begins. 

The  poet's  solitude  on  earth  appears  from  a 
little  poem  of  a  few  lines,  entitled  "  The  Echo." 
There  is  not  a  sound  in  nature,  not  an  exclama- 
tion of  joy  or  of  sorrow  in  mankind,  that  the 
echo  does  not  repeat  in  the  emptiness  of  the 
air,  but  it  never  gets  an  answer.  "And  so  art 
thou,  0  poet!"  exclaims  the  author,  with  no 
anger,  no  revolt  in  this  case;  he  accepts  the 
fact  with  no  rebellion.  He  seems  to  say: 
"It  is  so,  and  let  us  not  speak  of  it  any  more;" 
but  the  disproportion  between  the  length  of  the 
whole  and  the  shortness  of  the  last  sentence, 
that  takes  but  one  line,  throws  a  tragic  char- 
acter of  helplessness  and  hopelessness  upon 
this  silence  that  gives  us  to  divine  so  many 
things  it  does  not  tell. 


54 

Rebellion  appears  and  greatest  indignation 
breaks  out  in  a  piece  called  "The  Poet  and  the 
Crowd."  Never  has  the  rabble  been  the  object 
of  a  more  violent  apostrophe;  never  have  more 
eloquent  words  of  scorn  and  contempt  separated 
those  who  are  below  from  him  who  is  and 
wants  to  remain  above.  A  crowd  of  the  lowest 
average  of  humanity  surrounds  the  pedestal 
upon  which  the  poet  sings  and  touches  the 
chords  of  his  lyre ;  but  his  song  is  not  under- 
stood, the  sounds  of  his  lyre  go  to  the  wind, 
and  the  rabble  below  break  out  in  laughter, 
mockeries,  and  imprecations  against  the  man 
who  troubles  them  without  any  profit  or  utility. 
At  this  word  of  **  utility  "  the  poet  cannot  re- 
strain himself,  and  the  tacit  tortures  of  a  great 
soul  that  is  misunderstood  and  outraged  in  its 
holiest  beliefs  explode  with  a  violence  that  the 
fine  versification  seems  hardly  to  control. 
* '  Utility !  In  everything  utility !  In  the  mar- 
ble of  the  Belvedere  you  would  look  for  utility. 
And  that  this  marble  is  a  god,  that  tells  you 
nothing?  Of  course  a  kitchen  pot  is  of  greater 
value  for  you :  you  make  your  food  in  it !  From 
fche  noisy  pavements  of  your  cities  you  wipe  the 


55 

dust  —  a  useful  work,  by  Jove !  But  will  your 
priests  forget  their  altars  and  their  sacrifices 
to  take  brooms  in  their  hands  ?  Away !  What 
has  a  peaceful  poet  to  do  with  you  ?  . .  .  We  are 
born  for  inspiration,  for  sweet  melodies  and 
prayers!  " 

This  contempt  for  others'  opinion  is  formu- 
lated with  a  somewhat  theoretical  serenity  in 
a  sonnet  that  begins  with  the  words :  **0 !  Poet, 
do  not  prize  the  people's  love!  "  and  after  hav- 
ing shown  what  people's  love  is  worth,  the 
appreciations  of  the  fool,  the  judgment  of  the 
indifferent  crowd,  he  points  out  to  the  poet 
where  he  has  to  find  his  best,  his  most  impar- 
tial, his  unique  judgment:  *'  Thyself  thou  art 
thy  highest  judge.  Who  better  than  thyself 
will  appreciate  thy  work  ?  And  is  thy  artist's 
conscience  satisfied  with  it  —  well,  then,  let 
the  crowd  revile  it  and  spit  upon  the  altar 
where  thy  fire  burns,  and  shake  in  childish 
playfulness  thy  tripod." 

Self  -  consciousness,  self  -  control  and  self- 
criticism  are  the  highest  qualities  that  secure 
to  the  poet  a  constant  superiority  over  the 
crowd  and  an  unfailing  masterhood  over  those 


56 

miseries  which  trouble  common  mortals.  Armed 
with  these  qualities  the  poet  can  start  for  his 
mission,  but  he  cannot  hope  to  fulfill  it  with- 
out an  aid  from  above.  This  will  appear  from 
a  poem  entitled  '*  The  Prophet,"  but  before  we 
examine  that  wonderful  piece  let  us  embrace 
in  a  single  poem  all  that  appeared  from  the 
disjointed  phrases  we  have  quoted. 

The  poem  called  <*The  Poet"  gives  one  of 
the  most  accomplished  pictures  of  that  double 
life  that  those  children  of  heaven  live  when 
they  are  thrown  upon  this  earth. 

THE  POET. 

^*  So  long  as  Apollo  does  not  call  the  poet  to 
his  sacred  sacrifice,  he  is  plunged  a  coward  in 
the  troubles  and  vanities  of  the  world. 

**His  holy  lyre  is  silent,  his  soul  sleeps  in 
indifference,  and  among  the  poor  children  of 
this  earth  he  is  perhaps  the  poorest. 

' '  But  so  soon  as  the  Divine  word  strikes  his 
sensitive  ear,  the  poet's  soul  springs  up  and 
shakes  its  wings,  like  an  eagle  that  awakes. 

*  *  He  loathes  the  pleasures  of  this  earth ;  he 
cares  not  for  his  fame  with  men;  before  the 


OF  TH 


57 

idols  of  the  world  he  does  not  bow  his  haughty 
head. 

**  Wild  and  stern,  full  of  voices  and  tumult, 
he  flees  to  the  shore  of  the  desert  waves,  under 
the  broadly  roaring  oaks." 

And  so,  abandoned  in  the  world,  alone 
among  mortals,  misunderstood  and  not  caring 
to  be  understood,  the  poet  spurns  mankind; 
like  the  prophets  of  the  Bible,  he  flees  into  the 
desert.     And  now  listen  to  what  he  tells  us : 

THE    PROPHET. 

"  My  soul  was  tortured  with  thirst,  I  dragged 
myself  through  a  somber  desert,  and  a  six- 
winged  seraphim  appeared  to  me  in  my  path. 

"With  fingers  lighter  than  a  dream  he 
touched  my  eyes  and  they  opened, — the  pro- 
phetical eyes,  as  those  of  a  frightened  eagle. 
He  touched  my  ears, — and  they  were  filled 
with  sounds  and  ringing :  and  I  conceived  the 
heaven's  shudder,  of  angels  the  celestial  flight, 
the  under-water  moving  of  the  monsters  of  the 
sea^  the  germination,  in  the  valley,  of  the  twig. 
And  to  my  lips  he  stooped,  drew  out  my 
tongue, — my  babbling,   wicked  tongue, — and 


58 

with  his  bloody  hand  a  fang  of  prudent  snake 
he  then  put  in  between  my  frozen  lips.  And 
with  a  sword  he  then  hewed  up  my  bosom  and 
drew  away  my  palpitating  heart,  and  in  my 
yawning  breast  he  thrust  a  living  coal, 

"  Like  a  dead  body  was  I  lying  in  the 
desert,  and  the  voice  of  the  Lord  called  to  me : 
Arise,  0  prophet!  See  and  hear!  Inspire  with 
my  will  thyself,  and  crossing  over  lands  and 
waters  burn  with  thy  word  the  hearts  of  men." 

The  poefc  is  ordained.  From  the  depths  of 
the  desert  he  rises  up  a  messenger  of  God. 
And  now  through  his  work  he  comes  back  to 
us, — to  us  whom  he  did  not  care  for,  to  us 
whom  he  did  despise,  to  us  whom  he  has 
spurned  for  the  desert.  And  through  this 
work  we  learn  to  know  him  and  to  love  him, — 
him  who  did  not  care  for  us,  him  who  did 
despise  us,  him  who  has  spurned  us  for  the 
desert.  And  the  poet  knew  it  had  to  come, 
he  knew  it  could  not  be  otherwise.  In  a 
sonnet  where,  at  the  example  of  Horace,  he 
builds  up  his  own  "Monument,"  with  that  in- 
fallible spirit  of  self-criticism  that  never 
abandons  him,  he  says :   "The  way  that  leads 


59 

to   my  monument   will   never   be  overgrown 

with  grass My  fame  will  spread  all  over 

the  globe  and  through  all  ages  will  I  be  dear 
to  people,  for  I  awoke  good  feelings  with  my 
lyre." 

Yes,  he  will  be  known  all  over  the  globe,  for 
he  belongs  to  the  whole  world;  a  more  uni- 
versal, all  -  comprehensive  soul  has  rarely 
spoken  to  humanity  in  verse.  He  is  universal 
not  only  because  he  has  measured  the  whole 
depth  and  embraced  the  whole  scale  of  human 
sentiments,  but  because  there  is  no  form  of 
formulating  these  sentiments  that  was  not 
accessible  to  him.  This  man,  who  died  not 
much  over  thirty  years  old  (he  was  married  to 
one  of  the  handsomest  women  of  his  time  and 
was  shot  in  a  duel  he  had  for  her),  this  man 
who  never  went  abroad,  has  left  poems  that 
might  take  place  on  the  pages  of  the  National 
literature  of  any  foreign  country,  so  fully  do 
they  resume  their  character  and  their  way  of 
feeling.  He  had  by  intuition  that  which  in 
another  man  would  require  a  whole  life  of 
study  and  travel.  His  Spanish  poems  and  his 
dramatic  scenes  of  Don   Juan;  his  dramatic 


60 

scenes,  "  The  Shabby  Knight,"  that  first 
appeared  as  a  translation  from  an  unknown 
English  author;  his  fragments  of  the  Koran, 
his  imitations  of  Dante,  the  wonderful 
plasticity  and  serenity  of  his  hexameter  when 
treating  antique  subjects, — all  that  will  make 
that,  though  being  the  greatest  synthesis  of 
Eussian  life,  his  poetry  will  belong  to  all 
countries.  As  it  was  pointed  out  by  Dos- 
toievsky, the  most  complete  representative 
of  the  Eussian  character  is  at  the  same  time 
the  most  eloquent  example  of  its  greatest 
quality, — that  faculty  of  finding  in  itself  an 
echo  for  the  feelings  of  men  independently  of 
national  divisions,  that  talent  of  understand- 
ing those  words  and  forms  in  which  other 
nations'  joy  and  sorrow  express  themselves. 
In  his  book  on  the  Eussian  romance,  Count 
Melchior  de  Vogiie  of  the  Academy  of  France, 
after  having  shown  the  universal  meaning  of 
Poushkin's  we  just  have  spoken  of,  says  in  a 
somewhat  apologetic  way :  "  Is  it  discourtesy 
to  a  nation,  if  we  take  from  her  her  national 
poet  to  give  him  to  humanity?"  No,  cer- 
tainly it  is  not  discourtesy:    it  is  justice  to 


61 

the  world.  Take  him  from  us !  We  want  him 
to  be  yours,  for  he  never  shall  cease  to  be 
ours ! 

Yes,  he  must  and  he  shall  be  known  all 
over  the  globe,  for  we  sincerely  hope  that 
times  will  come  when  everything  that  is  great 
and  beautiful  on  earth  will  be  made  accessible 
to  every  one  and  that  humanity  will  no  longer 
be  deprived  of  what  belongs  to  humanity  for 
the  reason  of  not  understanding  a  language; 
times  will  come  when  we  will  find  out  how  to 
,  deliver  ourselves  from  those  chains  which  hold 
us  bound  to  our  nationalities  and  hinder  us 
from  ascending  those  resplendent  altitudes 
where  human  genius  has  founded  a  fatherland 
for  every  man. 


OF 

TJNIV: 


G 


REETING. 


TO  THE  GENERAL  WORLD'S  RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS, 
lira  SEPTEMBER,  1893. 


Mr.  President: 

Before  I  speak  to  this  imposing  audience,  I 
wish  you  would  allow  me  to  say  one  word  to 
you  personally.  I  am  not  an  ecclesiastic,  hence 
I  cannot  pretend  to  represent  a  church.  I  am 
not  an  official  delegate  (at  least  at  the  Eeligious 
Congress  I  am  not),  hence  I  have  no  right  of 
representing  a  government.  And  I  am  not  a 
man  of  science.  Therefore  I  appreciate  all  the 
more  the  great  honor  you  do  me  in  calling  on 
me  personally  and  individually  in  such  a 
splendid  gathering  as  this.  It  is  already  an 
honor  for  me  to  be  seated  among  so  many 
distinguished  and  prominent  men,  but  to  see 
my  name  on  the  programme  of  this  solemn 
session, — that  is  what  I  consider  the  highest 
individual  honor  that  ever  has  been  conferred 
on  me,  and  I  thank  you  for  this  honor. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Those  who  during  the  last  week  have  had 

65 


66 

the  opportunity  of  attending  not  only  the  con- 
gresses of  one  single  church,  but  who  could 
witness  different  congresses  of  different 
churches  and  congregations,  must  have  been 
struck  with  a  noticeable  fact.  They  went  to 
the  Catholic  congress,  and  heard  beautiful 
words  of  charity  and  love;  splendid  orators 
invoked  the  blessings  of  Heaven  upon  the 
children  of  the  Catholic  church,  and  in  power- 
ful, eloquent  terms  the  listeners  were  entreated 
to  love  their  human  brothers  in  the  name  of 
the  Catholic  church.  They  went  to  the 
Lutheran  congress  and  heard  splendid  words 
of  humanity  and  brotherhood  ;  orators  in- 
spired with  love  and  indulgence  invoked  the 
blessing  of  God  on  the  children  of  the 
Lutheran  church,  and  taught  those  who  were 
present  to  love  their  human  brothers  in  the 
name  of  the  Lutheran  church.  They  went  to 
other  more  limited  congresses,  and  everywhere 
they  heard  these  same  great  words  proclaiming 
these  same  great  ideas  and  inspiring  these 
same  great  feelings.  They  saw  a  Catholic  arch- 
bishop go  to  a  Jewish  congress,  and  with  his 
fiery  eloquence  bring  feelings  of  brotherhood  to 


67 

bis  Hebraic  sisters.*  Not  in  one  of  tbese  con- 
gresses did  a  speaker  forget  tbat  be  belonged 
to  bumanity,  and  tbat  bis  own  cburcb  or  con- 
gregation was  but  a  starting  point,  a  centre 
for  a  furtber  and  illimited  radiation. 

Tbis  is  tbe  noticeable  fact  tbat  must  bave 
struck  everybody,  and  everybody  must  Save 
asked  bimself  at  tbe  end  of  tbe  week:  "Wby 
don't  tbey  come  togetber,  all  tbese  people  wbo 
speak  tbe  same  language  ?  Wby  do  not 
all  tbese  splendid  orators  unite  tbeir  voices  in 
one  single  cborus?  And  if  tbey  preacb  tbe 
same  ideas,  wby  don't  tbey  proclaim  tbem  in 
tbe  name  of  tbat  same  and  single  trutb  tbat 
inspires  tbem  all?  " 

To  day  tbeir  wisbes  are  fulfilled  and  beyond 
all  expectation. 

Being  called  to  greet  tbe  present  congress 
on  tbe  occasion  of  its  opening,  I  will  take  tbe 
liberty  of  relating  to  you  a  popular  legend  of 
my  native  country.  Tbe  story  may  appear 
ratber  too  bumorous  for  tbe  circumstance,  but 


*Ilev.  Joliii  Ireland,  Archbisliop  of  St.  Paul,  was 
asked  to  speak,  and  did  so,  at  the  Congress  of  the 
Jewish  Women,  6th  September,  1893. 


68 

one  of  our  national  writers  says :  ' '  Humor  is  an 
invisible  tear  through  a  visible  smile;"  and  we 
think  that  human  tears,  human  sorrow  and 
pain  are  sacred  enough  to  be  brought  even 
before  a  religious  congress. 

There  was  an  old  woman  who  for  many 
centuries  suffered  tortures  in  the  flames  of  hell, 
for  she  had  been  a  great  sinner  during  her 
earthly  life.  One  day  she  saw  far  away  in  the 
distance  an  angel  taking  his  flight  through  the 
blue  skies,  and  with  the  whole  strength  of  her 
voice  she  called  to  him.  The  call  must  have 
been  desperate,  for  the  angel  stopped  in  his 
flight  and,  coming  down  to  her,  asked  her  what 
she  wanted. 

'*  When  you  reach  the  throne  of  God,"  she 
said,  '*  tell  Him  that  a  miserable  creature  has 
suffered  more  than  she  can  bear,  and  that  she 
asks  the  Lord  to  be  delivered  from  these  tor- 
tures." 

The  angel  promised  to  do  so,  and  flew  away» 
When  he  had  transmitted  the  message,  God 
said : 

'^Ask  her  whether  she  has  done  any  good  to 
man  during  her  life." 


OF  THB 


69 

The  old  woman  strained  her  memory  in 
search  of  a  good  action  during  her  sinful  past, 
and  all  at  once:  **  I've  got  one!  "  she  joyfully 
exclaimed;  »'One  day  I  gave  a  carrot  to  a 
hungry  beggar!  " 

The  angel  reported  the  answer. 

**  Take  a  carrot,"  said  God  to  the  angel, 
**  stretch  it  out  to  her,  let  her  grasp  it,  and  if 
the  plant  is  strong  enough  to  draw  her  out 
from  hell,  she  shall  be  saved." 

So  the  angel  did.  The  poor  old  woman 
clung  to  the  carrot.  The  angel  began  to  pull, 
and  lo !  she  began  to  rise !  But  when  her  body 
was  half  out  of  the  flames,  she  felt  a  weight  at 
her  feet :  another  sinner  was  clinging  to  her. 
She  kicked,  but  it  did  not  help:  the  sinner 
would  not  let  go  his  hold,  and  the  angel  con- 
tinuing to  pull,  was  lifting  them  both!  But 
oh,  another  sinner  clung  to  them,  and  then  a 
third,  and  more,  and  always  more — an  endless 
chain  of  miserable  creatures  hung  at  the  old 
woman's  feet !  The  angel  never  ceased  pulling ; 
it  did  not  seem  to  be  any  heavier  than  the 
small  carrot  could  support,  and  they  all  were 
rising  in  the  air !   But  the  old  woman  suddenly 


70 

took  fright:  too  many  people  were  availing 
themselves  of  her  only,  her  last  chance  of  sal- 
vation !  And  kicking  and  pushing  those  who 
were  clinging  to  her,  *' Leave  me  alone,"  she 
exclaimed;  ''Hands  off  —  the  carrot  is  mine!" 

No  sooner  had  she  pronounced  this  word  of 
**mine"  than  the  tiny  stem  broke,  and  they 
all  fell  back  to  hell  —  and  forever 

In  its  poetic  artlessness  and  popular  sim- 
plicity, this  legend  is  too  eloquent  to  need  in- 
terpretation. If  any  individual,  any  commun- 
ity, any  congregation,  any  church,  possesses 
a  portion  of  truth  and  of  good,  let  that  truth 
shine  for  everybody,  let  that  good  become  the 
property  of  everyone.  The  substitution  of  the 
word  *'  mine  "  by  the  word  '*ours,"  and  that 
of  *' ours"  by  the  word  **  everyone's,"  this 
is  what  will  secure  a  fruitful  result  to  our 
collective  efforts  as  well  as  to  our  individual 
activities. 

This  is  why  we  feel  happy  to  welcome  and 
to  greet  the  opening  of  this  congress,  where  in 
a  combined  effort  of  the  representatives  of  all 
churches  and  religions,  all  that  is  great  and 
good   and  true   in  each  of   them   is   brought 


71 

together  in  the  name  of  the  same  God,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  same  Man. 

We  congratulate  the  President,  the  mem- 
bers and  all  the  listeners  of  this  congress  upon 
the  tendency  of  union  that  has  gathered  them 
on  the  soil  of  the  country  whose  allegorical 
Eagle,  spreading  his  mighty  wings  over  the 
*»  Stars  and  Stripes,"  holds  in  his  powerful 
talons    those    splendid    words :     "  E   pluribus 


The  Social  Office  of 
Religious  Feeling. 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  WORLD'S  RELIGIOUS 

CONGRESS, 

15th  SEPTEMBER,  1898. 


Ol 

CTNTV 


Mr.  President, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  is  the  custom  at  the  congresses  that  when- 
ever a  speaker  appears  on  the  stage  he  should  be 
introduced  as  the  representative  either  of  some 
government,  or  of  some  nationality,  or  of  some 
association,  or  of  some  institution,  or  of  any  kind 
of  collective  unity  that  absorbs  his  individuality 
and  classifies  him  at  once  in  one  of  the  great 
divisions  of  humanity. 

My  name  to-night  has  not  been  put  in  con- 
nection with  any  of  these  classifications,  and  it 
is  quite  natural  that  you  should  ask :  "  What 
does  he  represent  ?  Does  he  represent  a  gov- 
ernment?"    No,  for  I  think  that  no  govern- 

75 


76 

ment  as  such  should  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  questions  that  are  going  to  be  treated  here, 
nor  should  it  interfere  in  the  discussions. 

Am  I  representative  of  a  nation?  No,  I  am 
not.  Why  not?  I'll  tell  you.  Some  weeks 
ago  I  had  the  honor  of  speaking  in  this  same 
hall  on  some  educational  subjects.  After  I 
had  finished,  several  persons  came  to  me 
to  express  their  feelings  of  sympathy.  I 
recollect  with  a  particular  thought  of  thank- 
fulness the  good  faces  of  three  colored  men,  who 
came  with  outstretched  hands  and  said : 

"  We  want  to  thank  you  because  we  like  your 
ideas  of  humanity  and  of  internationality, — we 
like  them." 

If  I  mention  the  fact  it  is  not  because  I 
gather  any  selfish  satisfaction  in  doing  so, 
but  because  I  feel  happy  to  live  at  a  time 
when  the  advancement  of  inventions  and  ideas 
made  such  a  fact  possible,  as  that  of  a  stranger 
coming  from  across  the  ocean  to  this  great 
country  of  the  New  World  and  being  greeted 
as  a  brother  by  children  of  a  race  that  a  few 
years  ago  was  regarded  as  not  belonging  to 
humanity.     I  feel  proud  to  live  in  such  times, 


77 

and  I  am  glad  to  owe  the  experience  to 
America. 

But  that  same  evening  a  lady  came  to  me 
with  expression  of  greatest  astonishment 
and  said  she  was  so  much  surprised  to  hear 
such  ideas  from  a  Eussian. 

''Why  so?"  I  asked  her. 

"  Because  I  always  thought  these  ideas  were 
American. " 

'•American  ideas?  —  No,  Madame,  these 
ideas  are  as  little  American  as  they  are 
Eussian.  They  are  lannan  ideas,  Madame, 
and  if  you  are  a  human  creature  you  must 
not  be  astonished  —  you  have  no  right  to 
be  astonished  —  that  another  human  creature 
spoke  to  you  a  language  that  you  would  have 
spoken  yourself." 

No,  I  am  representative  of  no  nationality, 
of  no  country.  I  love  my  country;  I  would 
not  stand  at  this  very  place,  I  would  not  speak 
to  you  to-night,  if  I  did  not;  but  our  individual 
attachment  to  our  own  country  is  of  no  good 
if  it  does  not  give  us  an  impulse  to  some  wider 
expansion,  if  it  does  not  teach  us  to  respect 
other  people's  attachment  to  their  country,  and 


78 

if  it  does  not  fill  our  heart  with  an  ardent  wish 
that  everyone's  country  should  be  loved  by 
everyone . 

Now  remains  a  last  question :  Am  I  repre- 
sentative of  one  particular  religion?  I  am  not, 
for  if  I  were^  I  would  bring  here  words  of  divi- 
sion, and  no  other  words  but  words  of  union 
should  resound  in  this  hall.  And  so  I  intro- 
duce myself  with  no  attributes,  considering  that 
after  the  permission  of  the  President  that  con- 
fers on  a  man  the  right  of  appearing  on  this 
stage,  the  mere  fact  of  his  being  a  man  —  at 
least  at  a  religious  congress — is  a  sufficient  title 
for  deserving  your  attention. 

Now,  we  must  extend  the  same  restrictions 
to  the  subject  we  are  going  to  treat.  First  of 
all,  we  settle  the  point  that  we  are  not  going 
to  speak  of  any  particular  religion^  but  of  relig- 
ious feeling  in  general  independently  of  its 
object. 

Secondly,  we  will  not  speak  of  the  origin  of 
the  religious  feeling;  whether  it  is  inspired 
from  heaven,  or  it  is  the  natural  development 
of  our  human  faculties ;  whether  it  is  a  special 
gift  of  the  Creator  to  man,  or  the  result  of  a 


79 

long  process  of  evolution  that  has  its  beginning 
in  the  animal  instinct  of  self-preservation. 
The  latter  theory  that  places  the  beginning  of 
religion  in  the  feeling  of  fear  seems  to  prevail 
in  modern  science,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of 
its  newest  conquests,  although  many  centuries 
ago  the  Latm  poet  said  that 

"  Primus  in  orbe  deos  fecit  timor." 

A  remarkable  evolution,  indeed,  that  would 
place  the  origin  of  religion  in  the  trembling 
body  of  a  frightened  mouse  and  the  end  of  it 
on  the  summit  of  Golgotha.  We  will  not  con- 
test, but  we  invite  those,  who  were  clever 
enough  to  discover  and  to  prove  this  wonderful 
process  of  evolution,  to  pay  their  respect  and 
gratitude  to  Him  who  made  such  a  process  of 
evolution  possible. 

Let  us  forget  for  once  that  eternal  question 
of  origins.  Do  you  judge  the  importance  of  a 
river  by  the  narrowness  of  its  source?  Do  you 
reproach  the  flowers  with  the  putrified  elements 
which  nourish  its  roots  ?  Now,  you  see  what  a 
wrong  way  we  may  take  sometimes  in  investi- 
gating origins.     No,  let  us  judge  the  river  by 


80 

the  breadth  and  strength  of  its  full  stream,  and 
the  flower  by  the  beauty  of  its  colors  and  of  its 
odor,  and  let  us  not  go  back  nor  down  to  dark- 
ness when  we  have  the  chance  of  living  in  light. 
Eeligious  feeling  is  a  thing  that  exists,  it  is  a 
reality,  and  wherever  it  may  come  from,  it  de- 
serves our  attention  and  our  highest  respect  as 
the  motor  of  the  greatest  acts  that  were  accom- 
plished by  humanity  in  the  moral  domain. 

Two  objections  may  be  urged. 

First,  the  human  sacrifices  of  ancient  times, 
that  were  accomplished  under  prescriptions  of 
religion.  To  this  we  must  answer  that  religious 
feeling,  as  everything  on  earth,  requires  a  cer- 
tain time  to  become  clear  and  lucid ;  and  we  can 
observe  that  the  mere  fact  of  its  gradual  develop- 
ment brings  up  by  and  by  a  rejection  and  con- 
demnation of  those  violences  and  abuses  that 
were  considered  incumbent  in  those  pre-historic 
times  when  everything  was  but  confusion  and 
in  a  state  of  formation.  The  same  religions 
that  started  with  human  sacrifices  led  those 
who  followed  the  development  of  ideas  and  did 
not  stick  to  the  elaboration  of  rituals — to  high- 
est feeling  of  humanity  and  charity.     Socrates 


81 

and  Plato  wrote  the  introduction  and  Seneca 
the  first  volume  of  the  humanitarian  work  that 
was  continued  by  St.  Paul. 

The  second  objection  will  be  the  violences 
accomplished  in  the  name  of  Christianity. 
Eeligious  feeling,  it  will  be  said,  produces  such 
atrocities  as  the  inquisition  and  other  persecu- 
tigns  of  modern  and  even  present  times.  Never, 
never,  never !  Never  did  Christian  religion  in- 
spire a  persecution.  It  did  inspire  those  who 
were  persecuted, but  not  those  who  did  persecute. 
What  is  it  that  in  a  persecution  is  the  product 
of  religious  feeling?  Humility,  indulgence, 
pardon,  patience,  heroism  and  martyrdom; 
all  the  rest  that  constitutes  the  active  elements 
of  a  persecution  is  not  the  work  of  religion: 
martyrization,  torture,  cruelty,  intolerance,  are 
the  work  of  politics ;  it  is  authority  that  chas- 
tises insubordination,  and  the  fact  that  author- 
ities throughout  history  have  been  often  sin- 
cerely persuaded  that  they  acted  "  ad  majorem 
Dei  gloriam  "  is  but  a  poor  excuse  for  them,  an 
excuse  that  in  itself  includes  a  crime. 

But  now  let  us  withdraw  the  question  of 
religious  feeling  from  history  and  politics,  and 


82 

let  us  examine  it  from  the  strictly  individual 
point  of  view.  Let  us  see  what  it  gives  to  a 
man  in  his  intercourse  with  other  men,  this 
being  the  really  important  point,  for  we  think 
that  only  in  considering  the  single  individual 
you  really  embrace  the  whole  humanity.  The 
moment  you  consider  a  collective  unity  of  sev- 
eral or  many  individuals,  you  exclude  the  rest. 
It  is  that  very  desire  to  embrace  all 
humanity  that  determined  us  in  the  choice  of 
our  theme.  In  fact,  what  other  feeling  on  earth 
but  the  religious  feeling  could  have  the  prop- 
erty of  reuniting  all  men  on  a  common  field  of 
discussion  and  on  the  same  level  of  competence? 
No  scientific,  no  artistic,  no  political,  no  other 
religious  subject  but  the  subject  we  selected: 
that  feeling  of  our  common  human  nothing- 
ness in  presence  of  that  unknown  but  existing 
being  before  whom  we  are  all  equal ;  who  holds 
us  under  the  control  of  those  laws  of  nature 
that  we  are  free  to  discover  and  to  study,  but 
can  not  transgress  without  succumbing  to  their 
inexorable  changelessness,  and  who  regulates 
our  acts  by  having  impressed  upon  each  of  us 
the  reflection  of  Himself  through  that  sensitive 


83 

instrument,  the  human  conscience.  If  we 
appeal  to  one  creed  or  to  one  religion  we  will 
always  have  either  a  limited  or  a  divided  audi- 
ence, but  if  we  appeal  to  the  human  conscience, 
no  walls  will  be  able  to  contain  our  listeners. 
All  limits  and  divisions  must  fall  if  only  we 
listen  to  our  conscience.  What  are  national 
or  political  or  religious  differences?  Are  they 
worth  being  spoken  of  before  an  appeal  that 
reunites,  not  only  those  who  believe  differently, 
but  those  who  believe  with  those  who  no  not 
believe  ? 

This  is  the  great  significance  of  religious 
feeling  I  wish  to  point  out  to  you.  Not  the 
more  or  less  certitude  it  gives  to  each  individual 
of  his  own  salvation  in  the  future,  but  the  soft- 
ening influence  it  must  have  on  the  relations 
of  man  to  man  in  the  present. 

Let  us  believe  in  our  equality;  let  us  not  be 
"  astonished"  when  life  once  in  a  while  gives 
us  the  chance  of  experiencing  that  one  man 
feels  like  another  man.  Let  us  work  for  unity 
and  happiness,  obeying  our  conscience  and 
forgetting  that  such  things  exist  as  Catholic,  or 
Buddhist,  or  Lutheran,  or  Mahometan.     Let 


84 

every  one  keep  those  divisions  each  one  for 
himself  and  not  classify  the  others;  and  if 
some  one  does  not  classify  himself,  if  he  does 
not  care  to  be  classified  at  all,  well  then  let 
him  alone.  You  won't  be  able  to  erase  him 
from  the  great  class  of  humanity  to  which  he 
belongs  as  well  as  you.  He  will  fulfill  his  human 
duties  under  the  impulse  of  his  conscience  as 
well  as  you,  and  perhaps  better,  and  even 
if  he  does  not  think  that  a  future  exists, 
the  God  in  whom  he  did  not  or  could 
not  believe  will  give  him  the  portion  of  happi- 
ness he  has  deserved  in  making  others  happy. 
For  what  is  morality  after  all  ?  It  is  to  live 
so  that  the  God  who,  according  to  some  of  us, 
exists  in  one  way;  according  to  some  others,  in 
another  way;  who,  according  to  some  others, 
does  not  exist  at  all,  but  whom  we  all  desire  to 
exist,  that  this  God  should  be  satisfied  with 
our  acts.     And  after  this,  as  the  poet  says: 

*'  For  forms  of  faith  let  foolish  zealots  fight, 
He  can't  be  wrong  whose  life  is  in  the  right." 

Some  years  ago  an  English  preacher  said 
that  times  had  come  when  we  should  not  any 
more  ask  a  man:   "How  do  you  believe?"  but, 


85 

"Do  you  believe?"  Now,  we  think  times  have 
come  when  we  must  neither  ask  a  man:  "Hoiv 
do  you  believe?"  nor,  "Do  you  believe?"  but 
"Do  you  want  to  believe?"  And  the  answer 
will  be  the  most  unanimous  cheer  that  human- 
ity has  ever  raised. 

The  Spanish  writer  Count  Castelar  says 
somewhere :  "Christianity,  like  light,  has  many 
colors."  We  don't  pretend  to  be  broader  than 
Christianity,  but  if  Christianity  is  broad,  it  is 
because  every  shadowing  of  the  Christian  rain- 
bow teaches  us  that  humanity,  like  light,  has 
many  colors;  and,  pardon  me  the  joke  in  seri- 
our  matters,  in  this  country  you  know,  you 
have  proved  that  humanity  had  many  ^'colors." 

Yes,  Christianity  is  broad  because  it  teaches 
us  to  accept  and  not  to  exclude.  If  only  all  of 
us  would  remember  this  principle,  the  ridicu- 
lous word  of  "  religion  of  the  future  "  would 
disappear  once  and  forever.  Of  course,  as 
long  as  you  will  consider  that  religion  consists 
in  forms  of  worshiping  that  secure  to  you  your 
individual  salvation^  the  greatest  part  of 
humanity  will  declare  that  forms  are  worn  out 
and   that   we   need   a   new  '*  religion   of   the 


86 

future."  But  if  you  fill  yourself  with  the  idea 
that  religion  is  the  synthesis  of  your  beliefs  in 
those  prescriptions  that  regulate  your  acts 
toward  other  men,  you  will  give  up  your  wan- 
derings in  search  of  new  ways  of  individual 
salvation,  and  you  will  find  vitality  and 
strength  in  the  certitude  that  we  need  no  other 
way  but  the  one  shown  by  the  religion  that 
teaches  us  that  all  men  are  the  same  whatever 
their  religion  may  be. 


Father  Smith. 


COMPOSED   FOR  THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 

DELIVERED  AT   THE   MEETING 

IN    ALL    SOUL'S  CHURCH, 

]7th  SEPTEMBER,  1893. 


1770-1841. 

Mr.  President, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

The  subjects  which  have  been  brought  be- 
fore the  audience  have  been  so  well  treated, 
and  so  thoroughly  exhausted,  that,  as  one  of 
the  speakers  said,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
add  anything.  And  still  I  have  the  presump- 
tion to  think  that  I  can  make  an  addition 
to  one  of  the  interesting  papers  we  have  heard 
last  night.  It  is  but  a  detail,  but  details  take 
their  importance  less  from  their  intrinsic  value 
than  from  the  interest  we  attach  to  them ;  and 
the  detail  I  am  going  to  communicate  to  you 
is  of  great  interest  to  me  because  I  am  a  Rus- 
sian, and  will  certainly  be  of  greatest  interest 
to  you  because  you  are  Americans. 

I  hope  you  are  not  disagreeably  impressed 
in  hearing  me  mention  at  the  very  beginning 


90 

of  my  speech  the  names  of  two  nations:  he 
who  has  heard  me  speak  once  must  know  that 
I  will  never  bring  either  national  or  political 
considerations  before  an  audience  of  universal 
equality  and  peace;  no,  if  I  start  with  these 
two  names  it  is  because  I  know  that,  though 
approaching  the  same  subject  from  two  differ- 
ent points,  we  will  meet  at  the  end  on  that 
common  field  where  everybody  must  meet  to 
find  happiness  and  rest — on  the  field  of 
humanity. 

Last  night  you  greeted  with  applause  the 
name  of  Rev.  Mr.  Badin,  first  Catholic  priest 
ordained  in  the  United  States.  Now,  it  will 
perhaps  interest  you  to  learn  who  was  the 
second  Catholic  priest  ordained  in  this  country. 
This  was  the  well  known  Vicar  -  General  of 
the  Diocese  of  Philadelphia,  so  popular  under 
the  name  of  Father  Smith.*  His  eventful 
biography  is  not  deprived  of  interest. 

*This  was  his  name  of  adoption.  When  lie  came 
over  to  America  he  called  himself  Schniettau,  the 
name  of  his  mother  who  was  the  daughter  of  Field- 
Marshal  Count  von  Schmettau,  one  of  the  favorite 
generals  of  Frederick  the  Great;  but  it  soon  was 
Americanized  into  Smith,  and  before  we  give  his  real 
name,  we  will  continue  to  call  him  so. 


UN  I VI 


91 


He  descended  from  a  very  old  and  distin- 
guished family.  His  father  was  ambassador 
at  the  Court  of  The  Netherlands,  and  the  young 
man  was  brought  up  in  relations  of  comrade- 
ship with  the  heir  to  the  throne  of  that  country, 
which  relations  never  ceased,  even  after  they 
became  separated.  In  1792  he  undertook  a 
voyage  to  America;  he  sailed  from  Eotterdam 
on  August  18th,  and  arrived  in  Baltimore  on 
28th  of  October.  Here  he  suddenly  became  so 
interested  with  theological  questions,  that  he 
decided  to  become  a  priest,  and  for  this  purpose 
he  entered  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice  at  Bal- 
timore. According  to  John  Gilmary  Shea,*  he 
was  **  the  most  eminent  person  who  entered 
the  Seminary,  whether  we  regard  his  exalted 
position  in  the  world,  or  his  devoted  and  self- 
sacrificing  career  as  a  priest."  His  ordination 
took  place  on  18th  of  March,  1795.  He  was 
not  only  the  second  priest  ordained,  but  the 
first  who  received  the  holy  orders  in  this  coun- 
try, for  Rev.  Mr.  Badin  had  been  made  deacon 
in  France  before  coming  to  America. 

*  **  Life  and  Times  of  tlie  Most  Rev.  John  Carroll," 
New  York:  J.  G.  Shea,  1888. 


92 

At  the  beginning  of  his  ecclesiastical  career 
he  accomplished  several  religious  missions  in 
remote  and  wild  parts  of  this  country.  Bishop 
Carroll  directed  him  first  to  Port  Tobacco,  then 
to  the  Conewago  mission  that  resided  in  Ta- 
neytown ;  all  that  which  is  now  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania  has  been  visited  by  him,  and  has 
been  the  theatre  where  the  energy  and  rectitude 
of  Father  Smith's  character  displayed  itself  in 
correcting  abuses  and  in  accomplishing  the 
missions  his  great  Bishop  had  conferred  on 
him.  In  1799  the  Eoman  Catholics  of  Captain 
McGuire's  settlement  at  Clearfield  petitioned 
the  Bishop  for  a  priest  and  expressed  the  wish 
to  have  Father  Smith  appointed.  With  his 
usual  energy  he  went  to  the  work,  and  on 
Christmas  eve  of  the  same  year  the  first  mass 
was  held  in  the  new  church.  "I  have  now," 
he  says  in  his  report  to  Bishop  Carroll,**  thanks 
be  to  God,  a  little  house  of  my  own,  for  the 
first  time  since  I  came  to  this  country,  and 
God  grant  that  I  may  be  able  to  keep  it." 

His  activity  in  this  wild  and  uncultivated 
district  of  the  Alleghanies,  in  what  is  now 
Cambria  county.  Pa.,  was  great  and  untiring; 


he  bought  more  than  20,000  acres,  invited 
settlers  and  supplied  them  with  homes  on  easy- 
terms,  although  his  own  pecuniary  affairs  were 
very  hard  at  this  time  because  of  the  death  of 
his  father  and  troubles  connected  with  the  in- 
heritance. His  sister  supplied  him  with  sums 
of  money  for  some  time,  but  soon  she  married 
the  Austrian  Prince  of  Salm,  and  this  last 
resource  was  exhausted.  Fortunately  his  old 
friend  and  schoolmate,  now  King  of  The  Nether- 
lands, bought  a  very  fine  collection  of  Greek 
and  Koman  antiquities,  left  by  the  late  am- 
bassador, and  sent  the  money  over  to  Father 
Smith.  This  and  some  subscriptions  of  a  few 
friends  enabled  him  to  meet  his  pecuniary  en- 
gagements and  to  free  his  colony  from  debt 
after  having  spent  $15,000  in  its  creation. 
And  he  continued  his  work.  Colonies  were 
rising  and  growing  under  his  patronage.  The 
town  of  Loretto,  situated  four  miles  north-west 
of  Crescent  Station  on  the  Pennsylvania  Eail- 
road,  was  founded  by  him  in  1803. 

His  fame  grew.  For  a  time  he  was  spoken 
of  for  the  see  of  Bardstown,  Ky.;  then  he  was 
actually  nominated  for  that  of  Detroit,  Mich., 


94 

but  declined  the  honor;  in  1821  he  was 
appointed  Vicar- General  of  the  Diocese  of 
Philadelphia;  Bishop  Conwell  offered  later  to 
make  him  his  Coadjutor -Bishop,  but  he  de- 
clined again.  The  ideas  of  the  Bishop  were 
not  in  harmony  with  his  own,  and  after  a  cer- 
tain time  he  resigned  his  Vicar- Generalship, 

The  rest  of  his  life  was  consecrated  to  char- 
ity, to  arduous  work  and  continuous  self-sacri- 
fice. One  day  some  friend  of  his  exclaimed : 
''He  has  a  heart  of  gold!"  *' No,  thanks  to 
God  he  has  not,"  replied  another,  "for  if  he  had 
he  would  have  given  it  to  the  unfortunate." 
He  died  in  Loretto,  the  town  he  had  founded, 
on  the  6th  of  May,  1841.  He  left  numerous 
writings  on  ecclesiastical  subjects,  mostly  in 
the  form  of  letters. 

I  am  glad  if  I  have  succeeded  in  interesting 
you  with  these  few  details  of  the  life  of  a  man 
who  has  done  so  much  for  your  country;  now, 
the  fact  which  interests  me  in  this  biography 
is  that  this  American  priest,  the  second 
ordained  in  the  United  States,  and  the  first 
who  took  the  holy  orders  in  your  country,  was 
a  compatriot  of  mine:   he  was  a  Eussian,  and 


95 

his  true  name  was  Prince  Galitzin.*  His 
memory  is  still  living  in  that  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania where  he  has  left  so  much  of  his  work ; 
and  when  the  constructors  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Eailway,  in  search  of  a  famous  name  to  be 
given  to  a  station,  asked  the  inhabitants  who 
was  the  most  famous  man  of  that  country,  the 
inhabitants  said:  **  Kev.  Father  Demetrius 
Augustine  Prince  Galitzin,"  and  the  station 
was  called  after  him. 

I  would  do  injustice  to  the  name  if  I  did  not 
mention  another  fact  in  connection  with  this 
one.  In  1840  a  sister  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Metz  came  over  from  France  to  America,  on 
a  special  religious  mission.  She  was  the 
founder  of  a  woman's  convent  in  New  York,  of 
several  schools  throughout  the  United  States, 
and  of  a  Christian  mission  among  the  Indian 
tribe  of  Pottawatomies.  This  sister  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  was  also  a  compatriot  of  mine, 
for  she  was  a  cousin  of  the  Vicar  General  of 
Philadelphia,  and  her  name  was  Princess 
Elizabeth  Galitzin.  t 

*  "Appleton's  Cycloposdia  of  American  Biography." 
fBorn  in  St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  in  1795;  died  in  St. 
Micliers,  La.,  on  ttie  8tli  of  December,  1843. 


Now,  if  anybody  can  tell  ns  the  name  of  the 
third  Catholic  priest  ordained  in  the  United 
States,  we  will  be  glad  to  learn  it.  In  the 
meantime  I  am  happy  I  could  bring  this 
small  contribution  to  your  great  Catholic 
Congress  by  accentuating  this  example  of 
spiritual  relation  between  two  nations  so 
distant  from  one  another.  I  am  happy,  be- 
cause I  think  that  when  life  gives  us  similar 
experiences,  we  ought  to  remember  them,  and 
we  ought  to  forget  them  just  as  little  as  a 
commandment  of  the  Scripture,  for  every  time 
nature  gives  us  proof  that  nationalities  do  not 
exist,  it  fulfills  the  prescriptions  of  its  Creator. 
Nationalities  are  not  in  the  laws  of  nature; 
they  are  but  the  best  mean  among  the  wrong 
ones  to  excuse  the  necessities  of  life,  but  they 
have  to  hide  themselves  from  the  face  of 
Eternity. 

We  cannot  know  what  the  future  shall  be, 
but  the  world  has  lasted  long  enough,  that  we 
may  turn  our  eyes  backward;  and  taking  the 
present  moment  as  the  result  of  the  evolution 
of  former  ages,  we  can, — on  the  basis  of 
the   changelessness   of   nature's    laws, — draw 


97 

conclusions  from  the  present  moment  as  to 
future  ages.  The  aim  is  hidden,  but  the  ten- 
dencies are  manifest,  and  in  formulating  the 
tendencies  of  the  world's  development  we 
eo  ipso  indicate  its  aim.  And  that  is  what 
gives  us  the  right  of  affirming  that  the  aim 
nature  pursues  in  its  development  is  to  prove 
that  such  expressions  as  ^'American,  Eussian, 
German,  Spanish,"  are  words  invented  by 
man  and  not  things  created  by  God. 

And  if  eternities  are  needed  for  its  practical 
accomplishment  on  earth,  the  earth  shall  last 
eternities. 


A  Reply. 


DELIVERED    AT    THE   WORLD'S    RELIGIOUS 

CONGRESS. 

23rd  SEPTEMBER,  1893. 


^  M^v^ivi- 


Mr.  President, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

A  few  days  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiv- 
ing the  following  letter : 

CHICAGO,   Sept.  15th,  1893, 

PRINCE  SERGE   WOLKONSKY, 
DEAR  SIR: 

There    will   be    a    meeting   next    Monday, 

September  18th,    at  4  p.m.,    in    Room    23   of  the    Art 

Palace,  to  decide,  if  possible,  upon  a  formula  which  may 

serve  as  a  bond  for  universal  brotherhood. 

One  representative  of  each  faith  and  order  will  be 

invited.       The  invitation  is  hereby  extended  to  yourself. 

If  you  cannot  be  present,   will  you  kindly  reply,   stating 

whether  you  regard  the    enclosed   form  as  suitable  for 

the  purpose? 

Yours  respectfully, 

THEODORE  F.   SEWARD. 


102       ■ 

When  I  received  the  above  invitation  I  did 
not  know  whether  this  would  be  a  private 
gathering  for  a  friendly  exchange  of  ideas,  or 
a  public  session  with  regular  speeches  and 
addresses,  but  the  appeal  touched  me  too 
profoundly  not  to  try  to  prepare  myself  for 
both.  In  the  following  lines,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  setting  forth  the  ideas  which  have  been  sug- 
gested to  me  by  Mr.  Seward's  kind  invitation. 


Much  has  been  spoken  of  universal  brother- 
hood during  these  last  weeks,  many  eloquent 
speakers  inspired  with  the  theme  elicited 
enthusiastic  applause,  thousands  of  people 
left  the  halls  of  the  Congress  with  softened 
hearts  and  with  a  firm  resolution  to  bring 
the  beautiful  theories  into  their  practical 
life, — and  still  a  kind  of  doubt  prevents  us 
from  trusting  in  any  palpable  result.  For  a 
long  time  I  have  been  searching  for  the  reason 
of  that  doubt,  which  never  ceased  trailing 
clouds  upon  the  pure  sky  that  shines  over 
those  brotherly  gatherings,  and  I  think — I 
finally  have  found  the  reason. 


103 

We  speak  of  brotherhood  as  of  a  thing  to  be 
founded,  we  look  at  it  as  if  it  were  an  institu- 
tion, a  thing  that  had  to  be  created  and  organ- 
ized, a  thing  which  did  not  exist  and  which 
we  wanted  to  exist.  People  seem  to  say: 
"We  are  not  brothers,  but  let  us  try  to 
become  such;  yes,  let  us  try  to  become 
brothers — though  difficult  it  may  be, — let  us 
try,  for  we  are  civilized  people,  and  there  is  no 
real  civilization  without  brotherhood :  brother- 
hood is  the  crown  of  all  civilization ! ' '  Alas,  my 
friends,  brotherhood  is  not  the  crown — it  is  the 
basis,  and  if  a  civilization  is  not  built  upon 
that  basis,  no  posterior  efforts  can  remedy  the 
evil.  It  is  not  to  become  brothers  we  must 
strive :  it  is — not  to  forget  that  we  are  brothers. 
It  is  not  because  we  are  civilized  that  we  speak 
of  instituting  a  universal  brotherhood  on. earth, 
it  is  because  we  are  not^  or  far  more,  because 
we  are  wrongly  civilized  that  we  strain  our 
brains  to  institute  a  condition  that  never 
ceased  to  exist.  Human  brotherhood  is  not  a 
club  where  membership  is  needed  to  enjoy  its 
privileges  ;  not  by  instituting  societies  or 
associations  can  we  inspire  feelings  of  brother- 


104 

hood,  but  by  breaking  the  exclusiveness  of 
those  which  do  exist. 

We  must  not  forget  that  associations  are 
not  the  aim,  but  only  the  instrument.  If  we 
regard  those  **rehgious  clubs"  as  an  aim  in 
themselves,  our  membership  becomes  a  seclu- 
sion from  the  rest  of  humanity;  it  becomes  a 
contraction  instead  of  an  expansion,  an  end 
instead  of  a  beginning,  and  it  generates  death 
instead  of  generating  life.  It  is  not  what  we 
do  when  we  go  to  the  meeting,  nor  the  fact  of 
our  going  that  is  important,  but  what  we  do 
when  we  leave  it.  When  we  believe  that,  we 
will  see  that  associations  and  clubs  are  not  the 
principal  thing.  We  will  not  breathe  with  our 
full  lungs  until  the  day  we  understand  that 
human  brotherhood  is  not  a  question  of  badge, 
and  that  for  introducing  it  into  life  we  have 
to  turn  our  eyes  elsewhere.  Where?  This 
is  the  great  question.  I  will  try  to  answer  it 
as  I  understand  it. 

Our  modern  civilization — or  rather  let  us  not 
use  this  word,  for  it  pre-supposes  a  perfection, 
and  hence  cannot  be  applied  to  anything  that 
exists  on  earth, — no,  we  will  say  our  ways  of 


105 

teaching  and  learning  are  the  evils  we  must 
fight  against  if  we  wish  to  deliver  the  idea  of 
human  brotherhood  from  the  dust  and  smoke 
and  mud  which  cover  it,  so  that  we  are  able  to 
forget  that  it  exists  and  speak  of  it  as  a  new 
thing  to  be  instituted.  Our  ways  of  teaching, 
there  is  the  evil,  so  I  said  and  so  I  repeat ;  for  our 
ways  of  teaching  are  shameful!  From  childhood 
on  we  are  taught  that  human  beings  are  divided 
into  civilized,  enlightened,  uncivilized,  bar- 
barians, etc, — I  do  not  know  the  exact  defini- 
tions used  in  American  school  books,  nor  do 
I  know  the  exact  group  to  which  I  have  to 
belong  as  a  Eussian,  but  the  fact  is  that 
from  our  childhood  on  we  are  trained  to  divide 
those  whom  we  call  our  brothers  into  different 
categories  according  to  their  more  or  less  prox- 
imity to  those  summits  of  civilization,  the 
benefits  of  which  we  enjoy;  and  the  more 
learning  we  want  to  show  the  more  we  accent- 
uate and  underline  these  divisions  of  humanity. 

Now,  I  ask  you  all,  is  that  the  spirit  which 
ought  to  animate  all  education  ? 

And  when  in  the  course  of  later  life  a  few  of 
us  get  rid  of  that  habit  of  classifying  our  sim- 


lOG 

ilars,  when  under  the  influence  of  travel,  or 
through  learning  foreign  languages,  or  under 
the  influence  of  some  broad-minded  representa- 
tives of  our  churches,  or  through  works  of 
universal  science,  or  through  works  of  uni- 
versal art,  we  at  last  become  aware  that  all 
nations  are  composed  of  men  like  ourselves, 
we  consider  that  conviction  as  our  highest 
personal  merit,  and  the  greatest  proof  of  our 
enlightenment  and  culture !  Is  it  really  to  our 
culture  we  owe  these  feelings  of  brotherhood? 
Is  it  not  far  more  to  the  fact  of  having  suc- 
ceeded in  shaking  off  from  our  souls  the 
deposits  of  a  wrong  education? 

Just  allow  me  to  tell  you  what  happened  to 
a  Eussian  peasant  —  of  course  uncivilized. 

A  peasant  one  day  undertook  a  journey 
through  Europe.  With  a  bag  on  his  shoulder, 
he  started  and  walked  through  Germany, 
France,  a  part  of  Italy,  and  Austria  without 
knowing  a  word  of  any  other  language  but  his 
own.  When  he  came  back  his  land  owner  — 
the  civilized  man —  asked  him  how  it  was  pos- 
sible he  could  make  himself  understood  in  for- 
eign countries  among  foreign  people.     And  the 


107 

peasant  —  the  uncivilized  —  replied  in  the  most 
genuine  way:  **  "Well,  why  shouldn't  they  un- 
derstand me ;  are  they  not  human  beings  like 
myself?" 

I  leave  you  to  decide  which  of  the  two 
was  the  more  civilized,  and  whether  I  am 
wrong  in  affirming  that  our  modern  education 
does  just  the  contrary  of  that  which  it  should  do. 

To  return  to  our  subject,  we  think  that  the 
question  of  universal  brotherhood  is  an  educa- 
tional question;  that  it  should  be  put  at  the 
very  bottom  of  the  primary  school  and  not  at 
the  very  top  of  the  university.  And,  by  the  way, 
do  you  know  what  might  become  a  school  for 
teaching  human  brotherhood?  The  Midway 
Plaisance  at  the  World's  Fair,  You  hardly  be- 
lieve that ;  and  still  it  is  so ;  and  when  I  have 
told  you  why,  you  will  agree  with  me. 

The  Midway  Plaisance  is  generally  consid- 
ered as  a  place  of  pleasure.  For  me  it  is  the 
most  sad  thing  I  know^  because  it  is  human 
life  exposed  as  a  show;  human  beings  deprived 
of  their  feelings,  and  reduced  to  the  state  of  a 
catalogued  exhibit;  a  moving  panorama  of 
human  empty  forms.   And  we,  civilized  people, 


108 

who  go  and  pay  our  entrance  to  the  Cairo 
Street  or  to  the  Arabian  Circus,  we  even  do  not 
inquire  whether  these  human  brothers  of  ours 
have  a  human  soul  under  their  interesting  and 
picturesque  costumes.  We  look  at  those  Arab- 
ian riders,  at  their  equestrian  exercises,  the 
showy  colors  of  their  dresses,  their  movements, 
their  wavings^  their  cheering,  and  we  stare  at 
them  like  at  animals  we  are  allowed  to  ap- 
proach for  our  twenty-five  cents.  **  It  is  quite 
safe;  don't  be  afraid!"  And  the  clapping 
children  around  us  exclaim :  *'  Oh,  Mama,  look 
at  those  barbarians!"  Now,  if  '*  Mama"  had 
been  educated  on  the  basis  of  human  brother- 
hood, do  you  know  what  she  would  have 
answered  ?     She  would  have  said : 

"No,  my  child,  they  are  not  barbarians.  Why 
do  you  think  they  are?  Is  it  because  their 
dresses  are  so  showy?  But  don't  you  see  how 
much  prettier  they  are  than  ours,  how  much 
character  they  have, — and  they  are  dresses  of 
their  country,  meanwhile  ours  are  but  bad  copies 
of  ugly  patterns  we  receive  from  abroad.  Why 
do  you  think  they  are  barbarians?  Is  it 
because  their  faces  are  so  brown?     They  are 


109 

children  of  the  morning  land,  they  live  in  open 
air,  they  bathe  themselves  in  sunshine,  mean- 
while we, — we  breathe  the  poisonous  atmos- 
phere of  State  Street.  Is  it  because  they  raise 
such  cheers,  you  think  they  are  barbarians  ?  My 
child,  my  dear  child,  do  not  say  so;  you  do 
not  understand  them;  if  you  do  not  under- 
stand what  another  man  says,  it  does  not 
mean  that  the  other  man  is  a  barbarian.  Their 
language  is  a  beautiful  one,  it  is  a  jewel  set 
in  filigree;  their  poetry  is  the  finest  dream 
humanity  has  dreamt.  No,  my  child,  do 
not  say  they  are  barbarians.  Don't  be 
afraid  of  them^  step  closer, — you  will  see  they 
are  men  just  as  we,  only  far  more  better  than 
we  are,  for  they  have  preserved  their  human 
soul  in  that  purity  with  which  it  has  been 
given  to  all  of  us  by  the  Creator,  and  which 
we  lost  so  long  ago.  They  are  the  embodi- 
ment of  such  high  ideas  of  chivalry  and  duty 
as  we  never  had.  Don't  be  afraid,  my  child, 
step  closer,  you  see  his  open  honest  eyes,  he 
does  not  look  at  you  a  bit  with  the  same  mis- 
trust as  you.  He  knows  you  are  a  man 
like  him." 


no 

So  would  '*Mama"  speak,  had  "Mama" 
been  brought  up  with  ideas  of  human  brother- 
hood, and  we  would  congratulate  her;  but  if 
instead  of  that  she  says  to  her  child  with  a 
smile  of  motherly  satisfaction  because  of  its 
precocious  development:  <*Yes,  of  course  he 
is  a  barbarian,  but  then  we  are  enlightened, 
we  are  civilized,  and  therefore  we  must  grant 
him  our  love,"  then  we  exclaim:  **Away 
with  such  a  brotherhood!  You  cannot  become 
the  brother  of  a  man  if  you  do  not  feel  that 
you  are  his  brother!" 

So,  if  you  really  wish  that  humanity  should 
be  united  in  feelings  of  universal  brotherhood, 
then  do  not  go  to  the  meeting,  do  not  become  a 
member  of  the  congregation,  do  not  waste  your 
dime  for  a  badge,  but  go  home,  return  to  your 
children,  gather  them  around  you  and  tell  them : 
< 'Children,  let  us  learn,  for  we  must  know 
what  other  people  are,  because  other  people 
are  our  brothers,  and  we  must  know  our 
brothers,  because  if  we  do  not  know  them,  we 
may  not  recognize  them,  and  it  is  a  crime  not 
to  recdgnize  one's  brother.     So,  children,  come, 


Ill 

let  us  learn,  and  learn,  and  learn,  for  we  are 
not we  are  too  civilized." 


These  are  my  ideas  on  human  brotherhood. 
I  am  glad  to  have  had  the  opportunity  of  pro- 
claiming them  publicly,  for  after  having  writ- 
ten this  paper  I  did  not  go  to  that  meeting  and 
I  want  those  who  asked  me  and  expected  me  to 
go, — I  want  them  to  know  why  I  did  not  go 
and  why  I  never  will :  I  cannot  enroll  myself 
in  an  army  to  which  I  belong  by  birth. 


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